Exchangeability
by CatchingWind
Summary: Who says ghosts and ninjas aren't alike? They certainly are when they have enemies that can't handle a grudge, student exchange partners that act really strange, and secret identities on top of that. Oh, and did I mention that things seem to be a bit stranger than usual in this haunted town? It's going to be a heck of a ride trying to balance everything with a secret... times two!
1. The Boys' Discovery

**Because I could. And Randy is awesome.**

**Warning: I jump right into the plot, and Randy and co. may be OOC**

**Disclaimer: I own neither Danny (or Dani!) Phantom nor Randy Cunningham: 9****th**** Grade Ninja.**

Exchangeability

_The Fenton Household ~ Amity Park, Indiana_

Dani Fenton crossed her threshold to find her two best friends, Noah Manson and Tucker Foley, staring intently at her TV. The two were sitting in the exact same position – head in their hands, elbows resting on their thighs, pupils dilated from watching the screen too long. She frowned as she watched them concentrate on the constantly changing screen.

"How did you get into my house?" she asked. After all, she'd not come home after school, thanks to the fact that Technus decided to use every iPad and iPod within the area to create one, colossal screen to "broadcast his takeover to the world", as he'd put it. She knew that Noah and Tucker would get home first, but she didn't know they were going to be in _her_ home. "_Why_ are you in my house?"

"SSHHH!" they both hissed simultaneously, their eyes never ceasing their train on the TV. Dani shook her head and rolled her eyes. What could possibly be so important that –

_The news?_ Since when had any of them ever cared about the news? Then again, they did seem to avoid it, because half of it seemed to be about her. She, too, turned towards the screen to find out exactly why the boys were suddenly so interested in the news.

Tiffany Snow with her unusual carrot-orange hair was on screen, smiling the never-ending smile of a news anchor. "_And in other news,_" she was saying politely, "_Amity Park isn't the only town attracting attention because of a hero! The Ninja of Norrisville has recently been rising to fame around the area, thanks to a series of attacks by various robots and monsters. Experts have been wondering – _"

"Experts?" Dani interrupted. "Experts on what?"

" – _if he and our own Dani Phantom have some sort of connection. The evidence speaks for itself – Norrisville and Amity Park are less than fifteen miles away from each other, their fighting styles are very similar, and both have the tendency to disappear easily. So are they or are they not in a partnership – or even something more? We may never know!"_

"How is this entertaining to you two? And I am _not_ in some relationship with a ninja!" Dani said, frustrated. Finally, she received an answer from her friends.

"Are you kidding me?" Tucker exclaimed, both turning to face her. "We've been fans of the Ninja for _years_! We've been tracking him since we were old enough to understand speech!"

"And can we just say you have a thing or two to learn from him in fighting skills?" Noah said, giving her a pointed look.

Dani glared at both of the boys. "Oh, ha, ha. You'll be saying that when I leave you two to get skinned alive by Skulker."

"Hey, I'm just joking! Besides, we've been paying extra-close attention lately, because we may have figured something out that could help you."

She scoffed. "Help as in the time where you thought playing that Wii game where you had to work out for an hour would train you better, or actually help?" she asked.

"Like, actually help!" he reassured her. "We think," he began, scanning the room for any witnesses, "_he may be like you_."

This threw the hero for a loop. "As far as I know, there is only one other person like me, and I hate his guts," she said.

Noah rolled his eyes. "Not _that_ kind of like you!"

"We think he may have a secret identity, just like you!" Tucker interrupted. "Evidence points to it!"

Dani considered this as she plopped down on the couch with them. "Explain."

Noah sat forward. "Get this. Tucker has a clip of one of the fights from six years ago, when we were eight. Pull it up, Tuck."

He did, and all three leaned to see the action unfold on the three-by-two inch screen. It showed a boy, dressed in a skin-tight, black and red outfit, complete with a scarf and mask, jumping up into the air and roundhouse-kicking a twenty foot tall robot in the face. The force caused the robot to tumble to the ground.

"_The bigger they are, the harder they fall!_" this Ninja kid said, quickly proceeding to beat it up further.

Dani looked up at the two boys. She said, "This tells me what, exactly?"

They just smirked at her in return. "Tuck, pull up the second video," Noah ordered. He then met Dani's gaze. "This next one is from three years ago. We would've been eleven."

The fourteen-year-old girl highly doubted their theory was true, but she still looked at the screen to see what their point was. This was another fight scene between the Ninja and what seemed to be a horde of robotic gorillas. The thing was, this Ninja had a totally different build than the previous one. This one was a bit bulky and shorter, while the one from the first video was much taller and leaner.

"_Can't you just give me a break?_" he said, irritated, pulling out a long sword (she couldn't remember what those kind were called) and slicing one clean in half. Was it just her, or was this voice much deeper than the last one?

"So?" Dani said. "Maybe they just switch places or something."

"Just wait!" Tucker said. "This one is from a few weeks ago…"

Yet again, the Ninja was facing a gruesome, six-armed beast. It was lying on the ground with its eyes closed, and the now stick-thin, tall-ish hero was standing over it, pointing at it.

"_Who's getting p'wnd __**(?)**__ now?_" he asked, as if he were boasting. This third voice was completely different from the first two. Then the clip ended, and the three friends looked at each other.

Dani was still confused. "I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to be seeing…"

Noah and Tucker looked at her like she had three heads. "And you call people here clueless!" Noah scolded. "The Ninja is obviously changing every couple of years and, judging by their statures, they can't be much older than us!"

"Yeah! I've done some calculations, and I figured that the identity of the Ninja changes every four years, and this year, there is a new one!" Tucker told them.

"So, let me get this straight," she said. "You want me to go to Norrisville and ask every high-schooler if they are a pajama-wearing karate guy?"

"Not really," Tucker said. "According to my calculations, the new Ninja _has_ to be a freshman."

"What's the difference?"

Noah spoke up. "They will be coming here! Remember that exchange program Mr. Lancer was telling us about?"

She racked her memory of her classes, which wasn't that much, to be honest. "I think I was out beating Technus to a pulp. Remind me."

"The freshmen from Norrisville High School are coming over here, to Amity Park, so that they can see our town isn't a freaky jumbo-sized haunted house."

"That's really what he said?" Dani asked.

"No, but it's definitely what he meant."

"And with a little luck, we'll figure out who the Ninja is, and you two can team up to defeat evil together!" Tucker paused. "And hook Noah and me up with some Ninja action," he added.

Dani grinned, but only because of her goofy friends. "You really expect me to go through with this?" she asked skeptically.

Both boys nodded.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm so going to regret this later…" she mumbled to herself.

When Noah and Tucker heard this, they jumped off of the couch in glee, giving each other high-fives and whoops of joy, causing her grin to widen just a little bit more.

**Yay. They're smarter than everybody else. Or just less clueless. You pick.**

**But seriously, considering that the Ninja changes every four years, you would think that many people would figure it out that something is up with him. Especially the guys who are trying to kill him.**

**Anyway, review with your opinion!**

**-CatchingWind**


	2. Randy's Obsession

_**Six reviews?**_** Jeez, I was expecting zero! You guys ROCK!  
And thank you, Living Encyclopedia, for reminding me that I TOTALLY forgot to mention that this story is a part of my (sort of unfinished) AU, one that has a female Danny. If you want a little more insight on this, there's a story on my profile called "The True Story of Dani Phantom". It's unfinished, but you can check it out if you'd like.**

**Anyway, here's Norrisville's point of view, and let's just say one of them is about to get a big surprise…**

**Disclaimer: My inspiration is the only thing I own.**

Exchangeability

_Norrisville High School ~ Norrisville, Indiana_

Randy Cunningham was bored out of his mind.

He admitted that he had been wanting a bit of a break from monster-fighting and everything, but that was so he could have _fun_, not listen to Mr. Bannister drone on and on about… something. Whatever it was.

He placed his head in his hand and sighed quietly. Secretly, deep in his mind, he was a bit worried. Obviously, if no robots were attacking, that could mean that McFist and Viceroy were planning something big. Or even that one bad guy, the Sorcerer. Rather than wasting his time, he should be watching his neck.

Alas, ninth grade English is not really something you can escape from.

So there he was, sitting next to his best friend, Howard Weinerman, wishing that something, _anything_, would come along to distract him.

Thankfully, his silent prayers were answered.

"Now, class," Mr. Bannister began, "as you all know, we will be traveling to Amity Park on Wednesday for a student exchange program."

Instantly, a chatter rose between the twenty-some kids. If Randy were a dog, his ears would've perked so far up, they would've come off. A field trip could be fun, even if it were some stupid exchange program and the city was only fifteen miles away. Despite that, the trip sounded promising.

"I trust that you all have turned in your permission slips, yes?" Mr. Bannister said.

This jogged Randy's memory. He did remember giving some sort of permission slip to his mother half-heartedly, who had signed it quickly and fawned over how this would be "such an enlightening experience", as she put it.

Not waiting for a real response, the English teacher continued. "Well, then, so you all aren't bumbling around and embarrassing ourselves on Wednesday, I'll be telling you your partners now. Now let's see, where did I put that…" He fumbled around on his desk, searching for a sheet of paper. "Ah! Here it is! Now listen up, because I'm _not_ repeating this!"

Randy swore that at that very moment, every kid in the room sat up straighter, not because of the teacher's orders, but because of the prospect of discovering a great partner. It was some unspoken agreement between all students: when the teacher is reciting name pairings, everyone shuts up and listens up.

"Sylvia Anderson, you're with a Kwan Li. Tony Applegate, you're with a Nathan Strong. Kelly Berkson…"

Randy bit his lip. It was a bittersweet thing, being near the top of the alphabetical list, because you didn't have to wait long to hear your partner. Good because it didn't let you get stressed out, but bad because of the same reason.

"Cross your fingers we get good partners, Cunningham," Howard whispered to him, leaning across the aisle way.

"I am! Now if you'll just let me listen," Randy said sharply, trying to listen. Mr. Bannister was now on "Amy Castle" and rapidly approaching his name. Finally, after a long wait, he called out his name.

"Randy Cunningham, you'll be partnered with a Dani Fenton. Elsie Dilling…"

Randy pondered this. _Danny,_ he thought, _sounds like a good guy. I hope._ Not that he cared about whatever exchange program thing was going on, he just didn't want to be paired with some shoob who didn't know what he was doing.

Howard, however, clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "I thought I told you to cross your fingers, man!"

Randy frowned. "I did! What's wrong with that?"

"Well, if you did, you wouldn't have gotten paired up with that shoob Danny!"

Well, there went that theory.

"Yeah, well," Randy said. He was floundering for a witty comeback. "Er, let's see you do any better!" he finally challenged.

Unfortunately, Mr. Bannister was only on Bash Johnson, who'd just been paired up with a Tucker Foley. Randy secretly felt sorry for whoever this Tucker fellow was. They were really in for a nasty surprise on Wednesday.

"Well, on the bright side, maybe this'll get my stupid sister to shut up about Dani Phantom," Howard mumbled.

For some reason, this normally insignificant statement grabbed the ninth grader's attention. "Who's Dani Phantom?" he asked.

"Some girl in Amity Park that's big right now. She will _not _stop babbling about her! What is she, a saint or something?"

"Well, why is this – hey, wait a minute, why is it a girl? Shouldn't it be a boy?"

"I dunno, I'm going off of what Heidi told me. And I never listen to her."

Randy said nothing in response. Why was this Dani Phantom girl suddenly so interesting to him?

(Yet his easily distracted fourteen-year-old mind prevented him from noticing the prominent similarities in her and his partner's names… Would he realize soon?)

Mr. Bannister was on the name "Gavin Schneider" who was four names away from Howard's, the last name.

"Why is she so popular?" Randy whispered, wanting to get an answer before Howard's name was called.

"Like I said, bro, I don't know! I think she's some sort of hero or something. Now shut up! My name is next!"

True to his word, Mr. Bannister was saying, "Heidi Weinerman, you will be paired with a Valerie Gray, and last (and somewhat least), Howard Weinerman, you will be paired with a Star Benson. Don't forget these names, people!" The teacher's timing was impeccable, because the moment he finished his last sentence, the end-of-the-day bell rang, and kids raced out of the room like they couldn't get out fast enough.

However, very uncharacteristically, Randy and Howard stayed behind, frozen in their seats. Both of their jaws were dropped towards the ground, and their faces were somewhat pale.

The reason for their shock was because of Howard's partner's name.

After all, any middle or high school boy knew that Star was a _cheerleader's _name.

Usually, they'd be jumping with joy at the thought of getting to spend an entire day with a cheerleader, but they'd recently come to learn that cheerleaders could be vicious to their kind: the loser-geeks.

Shaking himself out of his stupor, Howard banged his head once against his desk. "You should've crossed your fingers, man!" he lamented.

Yet Randy was not hearing a word of his best friend's sorrows. Sure, he was upset that his friend was sentenced to a Wednesday of doom, but his mind was focusing on one thing: this girl that Howard's sister was so excited about.

The only question was, why?

**Two things: I'm calling Flute Girl Sylvia Anderson, and since the show doesn't mention anything about this (yet), Heidi is in the ninth grade as well.**

**And I do realize that I just ranted about cluelessness in the last chapter, yet I just made Randy totally ignorant to the fact of "the girl's" and his partner's names. My reasoning is that he is a ninth grade, fourteen-year-old boy; he's not exactly the most observant person on the planet.**

**And, yes, Tucker is paired up with Bash. How I do so love to torture these characters.**

**But anyway, to tell the truth, I basically have the next chapter semi-planned out, and then I'm winging it. I'm blanking on ideas, except for a few that I'm hoping to incorporate, so I'm willing to hear your ideas! Reply with feedback!**

**-CatchingWind**

**P.S. Next chapter will really start the crossover-ing!**


	3. Two Towns Collide

**Alrighty, **_**now**_** we get to the fun stuff. But a lot of this is written on a whim. So… be warned.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything, never will. It would be awesome to, though.**

Exchangeability

_Casper High School ~ Amity Park, Indiana_

The freshmen of Amity Park and of Norrisville were tired of sitting.

Amity Park's ninth graders had been ushered into the gymnasium the second the first bell rang, and, not ten minutes later, Norrisville's ninth graders had the same done to them. The whole gym was now hot, stuffy, and filled with 300 very bored teenagers. Well, them and twelve over-excited teachers and one vice-principal, who was holding a microphone and speaking into it.

"Welcome, all freshmen!" said Mr. Lancer, who was beaming from ear to ear. "We are all too excited to begin our day, so let us quickly go over the partner pairings and some ground rules."

On one end of the gym, the Amity Park students straightened, almost exactly like the Norrisvillians had when they were given their partner assignments. Randy, who was sitting in the third row of bleachers on the opposite side, assumed that they hadn't heard their partners yet, which was why they were so eager to listen. Unfortunately, this meant that he had nothing else to think about while this Mr. Lancer dude recited names he'd already heard again.

Yet there were three best friends on Amity Park's side of the gym who were subconsciously leaning forward. Dani, who was still a bit skeptical about what the boys had told her on Sunday, was eager to hear who her partner was. While she doubted Noah's and Tucker's theory, there was still that slight chance that it could possibly be true. She was almost positive that this would not help their cause, but listening to the names could just possibly give them some sort of indication of who the Ninja of Norrisville was.

And Mr. Lancer was oblivious to all of the students' thoughts and motions. "We will go in alphabetical order by Amity Park's students' last names. Norrisville High School students, we ask that you please raise your hand high so your Amity Park partner can see who you are. We are starting with Riley Aberforth, who is paired up with Evan Trenton from Norrisville High School. Jacob Ashton is with Gavin Schnieder. Dash Baxter is paired with Theresa Fowler. Star Benson is with Howard Weinerman. Carson Bowler…"

Sitting next to Randy, Howard sunk his head into his hands after meekly raising his hand when he heard his partner's name again. "Definitely a cheerleader," he muttered. His best friend just patted him on the back sympathetically, not really knowing what to say. He was focusing more on what this Danny guy could be like, and crossing his fingers that he wasn't a horrible partner.

On the other side of the gym, Noah was complaining about how it would take forever for Lancer to reach his and his partner's names and how Dani and Tucker were lucky that their last names were somewhat close to the beginning of the alphabet. Dani, however, rolled her eyes and tried to focus on what her English teacher-slash-vice principal was saying. Unfortunately, he was only on the "Ds", and the ones with second letters of "a" and "e" at that.

In Norrisville's section of the gym, Randy's thoughts slowly turned to the girl Howard mentioned his sister had been gushing about two days ago: Dani Phantom. Or was it Danny? No, because it was a girl.

But was she sitting directly across from him right now, in Amity Park's bleacher set? Although if she was, and if she was as popular as Howard and Heidi made her out to be, there would be a lot more fuss about her. Unless if the students were used to her presence…

And now Casper High's vice principal was calling out, "Dani Fenton, you are with Randy Cunningham," and the latter obediently raised his hand. He quickly tried to scan the opposing crowd to see if someone was meeting eyes with him, the person who would be this Danny Fenton. Unfortunately, almost every pair of eyes in Casper's crowd were turned on him, and before he could pick a single person out, the vice principal was saying, "Tucker Foley, you are paired with Bash Johnson."

Sitting to Dani's left, Tucker paled when he saw the owner of the name Bash Johnson, which was saying something, because Tucker _never_ paled. His two friends followed his line of sight and grimaced when they saw Bash.

"Well, it was nice knowing you, buddy!" Noah said, giving the distressed boy's back one pat.

"Noah!" Dani scolded, but secretly, in her mind, she was almost thinking the same thing. But she was also thinking about the person who'd responded to the name Randy Cunningham. He seemed normal enough of a boy, but this also meant that there was little to none chance that he was Norrisville's Ninja. And yet… shouldn't she of all people know not to judge a book by its cover?

Meanwhile, Randy thought about Dani Phantom again. If she was a hero like Howard and Heidi said she was, he seriously wanted to see her in action. Was there any chance that he could see her today? After all, it _was_ his day off; he deserved some awesome stuff.

And what kind of hero was she? Was she like some sort of police officer assistant, who kicked in doors and got the hostages out safely? Or maybe the kind of girl who went _behind_ the police's back and solved crimes on her own?

Or even – dare he say it – _a superhero_?

Noah, while Randy was thinking of all the possibilities, was listening closely to hear his name being called and who his partner was. Luckily for him, Mr. Lancer said, "Noah Manson, you are with Bucky Hensletter **(?)**." Unluckily for him, the person who raised his hand was actually wearing a royal blue and gold marching band outfit.

"Do you see what I see?" he whispered to Dani, who was sitting in the center of the trio.

She nodded. "Have fun," was all she said. Any kid who wore his marching band uniform for normal school clothes obviously had serious issues. She silently thanked whatever ghostly forces or whatever were intervening to give her a relatively normal partner for this stupid program.

The last half of the name-calling (the good kind) went uneventful for the Norrisville duo and the Amity Park trio other than when Paulina Sanchez was paired up with Julian Kading. Her face shriveled up in disgust when she saw the gothic boy.

Mr. Lancer finished reciting the names, ending with "Mikey Yount" and "Debbie Kang". He then read off a few set rules, obvious ones like no PDAs (Tucker almost passed out from shock until his two friends told him what kind of PDA Mr. Lancer meant) and that Amity Park representatives had to show Norrisville students at least five different sites of important significance. Then, the students were let loose to find their partners and begin the day.

"Well, I guess this is it, buddy," Randy said morosely when students began to flood the wood gym floor. Both he and Howard knew that they had to separate eventually and face their partners alone, and this was the time.

"If I don't make it," Howard said, putting one hand on his best friend's shoulder, "well, I was the one who stole your show-and-tell stuff in second grade. Bye!"

Before Randy could react, Howard disappeared into the throng of students struggling to reach their assigned partners. "Man, that's _wonk_," he muttered. He'd been wondering who'd been nicking his wicked cool show-and-tell junk all these years.

He sighed and stood on his tiptoes to see if anyone was looking for him. Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to tell thanks to the swarming mass of fourteen-year-olds.

Then, he heard a feminine voice next to him say, "Hey."

He turned around to face the voice and saw a girl just an inch or two shorter than him. She had pitch-black hair and startling bright blue eyes filled with a feisty spark that, to be honest, worried him just slightly. Her clothes were beyond average: just a pair of blue jeans, a light blue t-shirt, and a black hoodie left unzipped.

"Who are you?" he asked.

She just raised her eyebrows very slightly. "Well, I could ask the same about you," she replied. Randy's own eyebrows shot up at the remark. "But that would be redundant, of course, because I already know who you are," she added.

"You… you do?"

She grinned. "Well, yeah! You raised your hand when Mr. Lancer called out your name! You're Randy Cunningham, and I'm your partner, Dani Fenton," she told him.

Randy was stunned. _This_ was his partner? She was a _girl_! And quite a sarcastic one at that…

"Bu-but…" he stammered, unable to form a complete sentence. _Talk, you shoob!_ he admonished himself.

Dani, however, gave him a bit of a strange look. "But what?" she asked, prompting him.

He still floundered for words. His partner was a _girl_! He couldn't handle himself around girls, especially one like this!

Much to his relief, the girl suddenly went, "Ooohh!" with realization. "You were expecting a boy, weren't you?" she asked kindly.

"Er – yes," he managed to choke out.

Dani just nodded understandingly. "Yeah, I get that a lot. My full name is Danielle, but I go by Dani, because –" She paused very abruptly, as if forcing herself to stop. "That's not important. You're not here for my life story, you're here for Amity Park."

Despite his scrambled thoughts, he wondered if she was hiding something from him or if she really just wanted to show him around her city. It didn't _sound_ like she was hiding anything, but –

Just then, he heard multiple screams of terror from near the front of the large gymnasium, and his eyes flew wide open. What the heck was going on up there?

"Ghost attack!" he heard someone nearby shout frantically, and his brain went into a tizzy. Did that person just say _ghost_ attack?

He turned to see what the veteran of Amity Park had to say about this sudden behavior, but when he opened his mouth to speak, he saw that she was _gone_.

He twisted and turned, trying to find her. How in the world had she slipped away in this thick of a crowd without him noticing?

And then, through the thousands of questions and comments and thoughts flying around his head, something clicked.

That person who shouted said something about an attack.

And when there was an attack, the Ninja had to be there.

As quickly as he could, he tried to make his way through the pulsating crowd of frantic students while feeling inside his hoodie pocket to make sure his trusty mask was there.

After precious minutes of fighting his way through students, he found a boys' bathroom and bolted inside. He locked himself in a stall, trusting that no one else was in the room with him and pulled the mask on.

Almost instantly, ribbons of red and black stretched from the bottom of the mask and magically wrapped themselves around his body until everything was covered but his eyes. Despite his situation, he savored the feeling of transforming from a normal boy to one with some seriously wicked ninja abilities.

Not wasting another moment, he leapt out of the restroom and back into the open gym, where he saw a sight he would never forget.

Somehow (it must've been while he was changing, he could never really hear much during those things), a good chunk of the wall farthest from him and the ceiling had been disintegrated, lying in bits and pieces on the floor below. A tall beast growled menacingly at the remaining fear-stricken students, but this was unlike any monster he'd ever faced before.

It glowed a nauseatingly radioactive green, and some sort of thick liquid was dripping off of it, which grossed Randy out more than he'd ever been. The whole thing resembled a gigantic gecko, and he couldn't help but be reminded of the Geico Gecko commercials. Unfortunately, this was no insurance mascot. Its mouth was full of razor-sharp teeth, coated with the same substance that was dripping off of its body. Its eyes were a solid, blood red, and they were narrowed in a frightening way.

But what really caught his attention was the immensely smaller figure, hovering in front of it. He didn't bother to wonder how this figure was defying the laws of gravity, he was too busy getting a closer look. As his vision closed in on the figure, he saw it was a girl, no older than him. She had bleach white hair and green eyes that almost matched the monster's body color perfectly. Her outfit was odd, though: a black and white shirt, black and white pants, and plain white boots. The insignia on her chest appeared to be a stylized "D" with a "P" inside. It was that last clue that gave Randy the answer.

This figure, facing the monster with no fear written on her face, was Dani Phantom.

_Well, I'm about to get my wish,_ he thought sarcastically as he jumped forward to join in the pregnant battle.

**Heh. They didn't even really start and there's already an attack. But that's the life of a superhero freshman… or two, in this case.**

**Sorry if the first half of this was kind of boring, and sorry if the second half was kind of rushed. I wrote the first half like, two or three hours ago when I could actually think, and I wrote the second half… when I was done with the first. Now it's 1:30 in the morning, I'm still wide awake, but my brain is dead. (Of course, I will forget to post this and I will be saying it's 1:30 when it's really like, 5 in the afternoon or something. Or maybe I won't. We'll see.)**

**I appreciate your reviews so very much! Keep them coming!**

**-CatchingWind**

**P.S. The next chapter, sadly, will not answer this cliffhanger. Just thought I'd let you know.**

**P.P.S. I'm looking for some good cover art for this story. PM me if you are interested!**


	4. Evil Stirs

**I am so proud of myself for updating. You should be, too.**

**And sorry about the wait. I was in Minnesota for Thanksgiving with no computer access, so… I apologize, because I know a lot of you are eager to see what happens next.**

**Anywho, we sort of delve into a subplot here, so be prepared!**

**BTW: Vlad is mayor in this. It sort of matters, I guess, but…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own DP or RC:9GN**

Exchangeability

_City Hall ~ Amity Park, Indiana_

Vlad Masters tapped his pencil against his mahogany desk, trying to come up with a new scheme to defeat his teenaged arch-nemesis.

He had a vague idea forming in his subconscious, but the plan had multiple holes, and vital ones at that. If he decided to execute this plan, but left those holes unattended, it would fail, and Danielle would be free to laugh in his face and call him "Fruitloop" with no regret.

He needed a person or two who was good with machines. True, he was a genius, but he had never been good when it came to technicalities and machinery. That's why Jack and Maddie had built the Proto-Portal twenty years ago, and why he relied on Skulker to provide him with tools, traps, and the like.

Unfortunately, now that Maddie saw him as an evil sadist, she would not let him anywhere near the gullible Jack, and Skulker and he were in a bitter position after an argument two weeks ago. He could attempt to create his own crude robotics, but, as much as he hated to admit it, they would be nowhere near what he hoped for in quality.

What he needed was someone like him – someone with a grudge who would be willing to be his pawn. Or even an innocent engineer would do, one that he could woo into doing his bidding.

And he needed someone close to his teenaged arch-nemesis. Sure, she had those two little twits who always followed her around like lost puppy dogs, but, sue him for being picky, he was looking for someone who could put up a little more of a challenge. Those two boys just shot around those Fenton weapons like there was no tomorrow, and it was Danielle who had to come and save their butts in the end.

Now, if only there were someone whose power matched his, then he'd be happy. That person could actually put a little excitement in his life, unlike the puny fights his young foe put up.

But he needed someone close to her, because he needed someone to actually come track her down when he executed his plan.

He was going to kidnap Dani Phantom.

_Outside City Hall ~ Amity Park, Indiana_

"Where are we, and why are we here?" Hannibal McFist shouted. He never really talked; his voice was always loud and somewhat obnoxious. Marci was always trying to get him to quiet down a little bit, but when she told him and he did, he always forgot, and his next sentence would be loud once more.

"Amity Park," Willem Viceroy said. "We're here, because the Ninja is here. I thought you knew that!" Unlike McFist's voice, Viceroy's was at a normal level, but it was very nasally. Nobody was sure why, but they tended to avoid him because of it.

Being himself, McFist was oblivious. "Why is the Ninja here?"

Viceroy rolled his eyes. His employer could be… slow at times, to put it nicely. "Because the kids are here from Norrisville High, which means that the Ninja has to be here somewhere!"

Realization dawned on the evil entrepreneur's face. "Riiight," he said loudly, startling a few people nearby. "So what are we going to do about it?"

Viceroy raised his index finger and prepared to say something, but stopped. He frowned and lowered his finger, then said, "I don't exactly know…" He cowered a little, knowing what was going to happen next.

McFist practically exploded. "You mean you don't have a plan?"

The loud outburst caught the attention of a particular man, who was thumping gracefully down the marble steps of City Hall. When he heard the overly noisy question, he whipped his head around, gray ponytail swinging with the momentum. He saw two men of great contrast standing next to each other, one stout and wide, the other tall and lanky.

Curiosity got the better of the mayor. Tapping into just a tiny bit of his enhanced ghostly hearing, he edged a bit closer and listened in on the conversation.

"Well, no," the tall man said slowly, "but I figured that we could just, ah, go with the flow, as they say. The Ninja is sure to come out at some point today, based on my research. This town in constantly attacked!"

Vlad frowned as he nonchalantly took a step closer. Who was the Ninja, and why were these two men so keen on him, or her, or it?

The short man, who apparently had a completely mechanical right arm, much to Vlad's surprise, was still not pleased. "And how do you know they're going to get attacked today?" he said in a dangerously quiet voice. Well, as quiet as he could get, that is.

His partner grinned sheepishly. "I, er, don't. But statistics are on our side, and once one of those monsters pops their head out, the Ninja will come out, we can capture him, and then – "

" – we can destroy him! One of the best ideas I've ever had!" said the short man excitedly, sticking his pointer finger in the air as he caught on.

The tall man was a little frustrated when his partner took the credit, but shook his head and tried to ignore it.

Something in Vlad's mind sparked. Obviously, these two men had the same intentions as he – get rid of their greatest foe. He had no clue who this Ninja person was, but, if he was guessing correctly, it sounded like he was someone like young Danielle, a hero of sorts.

But, with a little luck on his side, maybe at least one of those men had some technical intellect, and he could strike up an offer that would aid him in the process of getting rid of their opponent.

He put on his million dollar smile and sauntered over before the men could get away. This was it, the moment he had been waiting for.

"Excuse me, gentlemen," he said politely, grabbing their attention, "but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. I think I have a deal that just may interest you…"

**Short, yes. Needed, yes.**

**So, yeah, sorry about the wait. I was running along with this chapter just fine and then I hit a brick wall of writer's block at full speed, so it took a while to chug this out. I know it's rushed, but it's something, right?**

**Next chapter, we will be returning back to Casper High to see how things unfold…**

**-CatchingWind**


	5. Disappearing Lizards and Sword Snatchers

**Next chapter, coming up! I'm sure you guys have been eagerly awaiting this one!**

**Disclaimer: I don't even know if I want to own DP or RC:9GN**

Exchangeability

_Casper High School ~ Amity Park, Indiana_

To say that Dani was ticked would've been an understatement.

She was madder at herself than anything, really. Her ghost sense had gone off less than a second before the monster itself showed up, which meant that this thing had to be _fast_. Either that, or she was losing her touch, which would not be good.

And it was a bittersweet moment when her partner, Randy Cunningham, turned around for a split second and she silently slipped away while he wasn't paying attention, turning invisible when she was sure no one was looking. Hopefully, if she got lucky (which never really seemed to happen), he would assume she got lost in the crowd. Of course, that meant he would frantically be searching for her, but he would just have to deal with not knowing where she was.

But right now, she had to focus on the drooling lizard growling ominously in front of her. Thankfully, it kept its eyes trained on her rather than the panicking freshmen below, but the longer it stuck around, the more damage and injuries it could cause.

"Hey, ugly!" she called out. "I hope you know that you're going to make a lot of taxpayers upset!" She paused, putting her finger on her chin. "Wait, that wasn't really witty…"

"_I hope you aren't talking to me!_"

The arrival of a new voice caused her head to snap up and scan the vast room quickly. Almost too quickly to process, she saw a black and red blur ram its foot into the stomach of the beast while screaming, "Ninja jumping kick!"

Okay, now she was just confused.

The mystery screamer dug its foot into the seemingly soft skin of the ghost, using the force to spring itself back up and land on the oozing head gracefully. When it finally stopped moving, she got a good first look at the figure.

_It was the same boy from the video!_

"The Ninja?" she blurted. She couldn't help it. She was stunned that Noah and Tucker had actually been right. Why else would the hero of the town that was here be bounding on top of a slimy green lizard?

Meanwhile, on top of the growling monster, Randy was actually having a bit harder of a time than he showed. Due to the disgusting plasma stuff that covered it, it was really difficult to keep good traction. That, and there was nothing for him to brace himself on. But when he heard someone say, "The Ninja?" he lost all concentration on his balance.

He glanced up for a millisecond to see the white haired girl, who had to be Dani Phantom. She was staring at him, dumbfounded, mouth wide open. Unfortunately, the monster took this chance to get him off its back.

Before he knew it, he was suddenly free-falling through a freezing cold mist-like substance. It was his turn to be confused. Where did the beast go? He had been standing right on top of it! How could it have disappeared?

Time seemed to slow down as he fell towards the wood floor. As he tried to figure out where his enemy had disappeared to, he saw that the mist actually had some sort of almost-invisible shape – the exact shape of the monster.

_What the juice?_

And then, time instantly sped back up to a normal speed when he slammed into something, something that had hit him from the side. And it _hurt_.

_Am I dead?_ he thought. He didn't want to be dead, he still had his whole life to live!

And yes, he was able to open his eyes and see himself… rising? Wasn't he supposed to be falling? He was sure if you were falling, the ceiling wasn't supposed to be getting closer.

He became aware of something wrapped around his waist… arms maybe? He knew for certain that he was not soaring upwards on his own. Something was helping him out, but what?

He tilted his head up as best as he could and saw a head of snow white hair and fiery, neon green eyes.

_Dani Phantom?_

Yes. Dani had shaken herself out of her stupor when she saw the Ninja lose his focus and the ghost turn itself intangible, causing the black-clad boy to plummet towards the ground. The screams from below and the adrenaline from her discovery allowed her to bolt towards him as fast as she possibly could, catching him by his waist and flying back up at equal speed.

She knew that he was dazed – who wouldn't be after a run-in with death? – but there was nowhere to put him where he could rest for a minute. The floor? Yeah, right. Only if she wanted him to get trampled on. The bleachers? A possibility, yes, but there were still kids struggling to get down from the upper rows, and the monster could easily just push them out of his way.

"Wh…" came the almost inaudible groan. She listened closer for more. "Wha… how?" he whispered.

She almost smiled despite his condition. The poor kid had no idea about ghosts. "Intangibility," she said, giving him the one-word rundown. "It's a ghost power."

That really got him moving. "Ghost?" he asked, sounding fully alert. He jerked up when he asked the question, which almost threw them both to the ground. She tightened her grip on him and kept zooming around, trying to confuse the ghost.

"Yes," she said, beginning to get impatient. They were getting nowhere fast just flying around like idiots. She had to set him down, or the gymnasium was toast. The lizard-thing was beginning to lose interest in the two and was starting to move his colossal body around anxiously.

To the bleachers it was.

She put him in a corner, all the way in the top row. "Stay here," she ordered. "I'm going to go take care of Mr. Slimy over there."

"Bu – "

"Just stay here!"

Randy watched in wonder as the amazing girl took off again, leaving him behind. She thrust her right shoulder out, tucked her head in a little, and plowed into the monster. Or ghost? What was it?

The sheer force of her blow actually toppled the gecko over, causing it to roar thunderously as it fell to the ground. Randy was astounded. Was this girl really that powerful? And was it really a ghost she was fighting?

She hovered in the air above it, bobbing up and down slightly as she watched to see whether it would get back up or not. Unfortunately, it did, and it lunged right for her. She shot up like a rocket, dodging the attack like a dancer.

To add to his amazement further, he saw a bright green ray of… something actually shoot from out of her hand and hit the whatever it was directly in the face. Much to his dismay, this attack only caused it to stumble back one or two steps. It obviously hurt, though, because it cried out again, shaking the room.

He continued to watch on, too enthralled with her to react and help her out. He was surprised when he saw her suddenly turn her head towards the doorway, where kids were pushing each other to get out still. He followed her line of sight, but whatever she heard or saw, he didn't.

He grew even more surprised when he saw her blink out of existence.

He would've missed it if he hadn't been watching her so closely. He had to rub his eyes – had he really seen it? When he looked again, she still wasn't there. What, was she some sort of creature that disappeared after being out for a certain time?

A new thought occurred to him. If Amity Park's hero was gone, shouldn't he be the hero now?

He sprang up, filled with a new energy, and threw himself at the gigantic lizard. _Just make sure it doesn't go all not-there on you,_ he thought sarcastically.

But Randy was way off on his guess. Dani hadn't blinked out of existence, but she had disappeared. She'd turned invisible when she heard Tucker's voice, yelling her name. Even with enhanced hearing and sight, it was a bit difficult to pick him out due to the throng of students getting caught in traffic at the door. He was standing next to Noah, holding the Fenton Thermos high.

She smiled, and turned invisible as she shot towards the two boys like a bullet. She couldn't really be seen associating with them, only for the sake of her identity and their secret-keeping duties. But they seemed to get the idea, because they held their position and kept a laid back expression when she snatched the Thermos out of Tucker's hand. Good thinking on their part, because she'd completely forgot it in her locker.

She came to a sudden stop, though, when she saw the Ninja at battle with the ghost.

The shock caused her to pop out of invisibility and shout, "What in the world are you doing?!"

Randy was too busy pulling out his katana and attempting to stab the monster. He didn't hear Dani's cry; he was just trying to find somewhere to land on this thing. He, unfortunately, didn't have the power to fly like his new idol.

He was aware, though, when a black and white blur sped by, snatching his sword right out of his hand.

"Hey!" he shouted, pretty certain that the thief was Dani Phantom. "What are you doing?"

"That's what I just said!" she replied, slowing down a bit. She was flying around, causing the slow gecko to thrash its head around.

He took a running leap (yes, he did say, "Ninja leap!" out of habit) and landed on the monster's back. Unfortunately for him, the back was still slick with whatever goo was coming out of it, and he lost his balance yet again. He did manage to right himself a little, surfing down its back at wicked fast speeds.

Dani, meanwhile, was having a tough time trying to find a place to use the Ninja's sword. The lizard was seriously upset now, because it kept lunging at her, trying to snatch her in its mouth. This was distracting her from actually finding a good place, because she had to keep dodging it.

She cried out in frustration. She couldn't make it quit chasing her by ecto-blast, because both of her hands were full and she hadn't quite mastered shooting them out of other areas (as creepy as it seemed). Why had she taken the sword from the Ninja? A stupid idea of hers! Yeah, he needed as much balance as possible, and she hoped that taking the sword helped with that, but couldn't she have just knocked it out of his hands? Now that she had it, she might as well use it…

Randy was also mentally smacking himself. Why hadn't he thought about it before?

"Ninja foot spikes!" he cried, and just like that, his feet turned into cleats and he was able to keep his traction. The monster screamed out in pain when the nail-like pegs dug into its skin, momentarily distracting it.

Dani took her chance before it vanished. "Are you helping me?" she shouted to the Ninja while maneuvering around the ghosts head.

Randy hadn't really thought of it that way. "I guess, but are you going to kill this thing or let it kill us?"

She was horrified. "I'm not _killing _it! It's already dead!" She shook her head.

Before Randy had a chance to process those two sentences, she threw an object at him, something she'd been holding before she'd even taken the sword. "Use this when I give you the signal!" she told him as he jumped to catch it.

Now he was seriously discombobulated. How was a _soup thermos_ supposed to help them get rid of this thing?

"How?" he asked, staring at the silver and green canister in confusion.

"_The green button!"_

Dani was frustrated, but she couldn't. Obviously, he'd never dealt with ghosts before, and he certainly hadn't handled her parents' technology. She had to –

Wait, right there!

She swooped down directly behind the ghost's face, then down a tiny bit so she was facing its lower neck. Not stopping, she thrust out the katana in the direction of its skin and created a four foot cut right there.

The monster's roar was deafening. Students' screams of terror were lost in the thunderous cry, and Dani was thrown back from the brute force. Radioactive green substance blossomed out of the sliced skin, and Randy took this moment to shout, "Schnasty!"

But then, almost impossibly, he heard through the rush of adrenaline in his ears Dani scream, "_NOW!_"

Barely hesitating, he took off the cap and pressed the green button as hard as he could. Much to his amazement, an icy blue vortex sprang out of its depths and practically grabbed the monster's head. It began to suck it in, and when Randy saw it was about to fly out from under his feet, he performed one of his best back-flips ever, landing flawlessly on his feet. The monster was drawn into the thermos with a sound of suction, and when it was finally encased within, he slammed the cap onto it.

The sound of post-battle silence was foreign. The fight had seemed to take forever to the two heroes, and now that the lizard was gone, they were left breathless from exhaustion and adrenaline racing through their blood.

Dani approached the Ninja, who was still staring at her Thermos like it was the Hope Diamond. "Um…" she began, her throat a bit sore from all of the shouting. The masked hero turned towards her, and she hesitated for a split second.

Had… had she seen those eyes before?

But she shook the thought off, and asked, "Can I have my Thermos back? I'll give you your sword…"

Randy was a bit startled. Here he was, face-to-face with the girl who'd saved his life and he was speechless like an idiot. "Er, ye-yeah!" he stammered, holding out the cylinder to her. They traded weapons and just stared at each other for a moment.

They didn't have long, though, because students were cautiously returning to the ruined gym and examining the damage. Dani noticed this first and turned to face them.

"Uh, I've gotta go," she said quickly, and before Randy had a chance to catch her, she'd blinked away again and obviously taken off, because he felt a breeze blow in his face. Frowning, he turned and looked at the slowly growing crowd of kids trying to find their partners…

_Partners!_

Oh, man, what was his partner thinking right now? Yeah, she'd disappeared on him, but surely she had to be wondering where he was at this point and if he was okay. "Smoke bomb," he said, a little louder than normal speech, but definitely not as loud as he'd been talking before.

The red gas permeated the air, and he was teleported to the boys' bathroom. Checking twice to make sure there was nobody hiding in there, he took off the mask, and the skin-tight outfit retracted into ribbons again and into the mask. He had no clue how exactly that worded, but he didn't really care at this point.

He jogged out of the bathroom, still a bit winded from his fight. Where in the wo-

_Oof!_ He'd rammed into somebody for the second time that day, and he decided that the second time is always worse than the first.

"There you are!" a voice said. He looked, and standing there was his partner, Dani.

But had he heard the voice elsewhere?

"Uh, yeah," he muttered. His mind was scattered and he couldn't really process anything. "What exactly… just happened?" he asked reluctantly.

"Oh, that?" Dani said, looking towards the hole in the wall. "That was a ghost attack. It happens all the time," she finished, not looking back at him. Her voice had just a little less pep in it than it had just a minute ago, and it confused him.

"Happens all the… what?" he asked. What the juice did she mean by that?

She just smirked at him, obviously recovered from what had just happened a second ago. "Welcome to Amity Park," was all she said. She turned on her heel and began walking towards the door, saying, "Come on, foreigner, you've got a lot to catch up on about this place."

Randy, wondering if he was going to get some answers, shook his head and went after her.

**Not much to say…**

**-CatchingWind**


	6. The Nomicon Messes Everything Up

**I need a nap…**

**This chapter is basically them explaining their towns to one another as best as they can and a little visit from the Ninja Nomicon… ;) (Is that how you spell it? I'm guessing here. I should just look it up, but… yeah.)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own RC:9GN or DP. Mind-blowing, huh?**

Exchangeability

_Outside Casper High School ~ Amity Park, Indiana_

"So, yeah, Amity Park is basically your normal city," Dani was saying as she and Randy bounced down the steps leading to Casper High's front doors, "if you don't count the constant ghost attacks."

"What's that all about anyway? I thought ghosts were just fake," Randy said, almost a bit too quickly. He was all too eager to discover what exactly he'd been fighting just a few minutes ago.

Dani faltered. "I-I'm not sure how it all started," she began slowly. How was she supposed to tell him without revealing that Amity Park's incessant suffering was her fault? And she was never going to tell him that she was the one who protected the defenseless citizens. "But one day, ghosts just started coming and attacking th – er, us."

She bit her lip. She was so used to talking about the people living here like she wasn't included that she'd almost said 'them.' Should she ask him the question that was on her mind? Of course she could. How could it give him any tip-off that she was a half-dead ghost fighter? "You ever hear of Dani Phantom?" she asked timidly.

"Dani Phantom?" Randy repeated. Did she… know something about his identity? He scoffed silently. How could she? She'd never met him before today. "Um, yeah… I guess you could say that," he said. Wow, he felt less excited today than he'd ever before.

"So you know that she's the ghost girl that saves th – _us_ on a daily basis?"

If he'd had a drink in his mouth, he would've spit it out. "Sh-she's _dead_?"

Dani gave him what looked like a sad smile. "Yup. She appeared around the same time the rest of the ghosts did. I-I don't know what makes her do it, but she defends u-us from the evil ghosts. My parents think she's a phony…" Gosh, she felt like a freaking idiot. Stuttering like that?

"Your parents?"

She laughed nervously. "Eh, it doesn't matter. But she just does what she does and I just get out of the way."

Randy stared at his feet. "So… like, what all can she do?" he asked. He wanted to know how she could fly and how she shot… stuff out of her hands and how she just disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Dani's eyes widened, though he didn't see them. What the heck was he getting at? But she had to remember that he'd never been here before, nor did he understand how she was able to defeat the ghosts. She being herself, of course. "Well, um… I really kind of don't know, but she can fly, she can turn invisible and intangible, she can…" she trailed off. She realized just a little bit too late that she was beginning to babble. About _herself_. "And she can, er, do a lot of other… stuff," she finished lamely.

"Oh," he said, a bit disappointed that she couldn't tell him more. He wasn't quite sure what 'intangible' meant (he never paid attention to the vocabulary Mr. Bannister assigned), but he wasn't about to embarrass himself by asking.

She decided to change the subject before she said something stupid again. "So, what's special about Norrisville?"

Special? Randy considered this. "Well, our mascot is a carp…" he said, totally acting like some shoob.

Dani let out a true laugh, a sharp, short one. "Yeah? Ours is a raven. And not like some cool, dive-bombing raven, but a raven that has to flap its wings at, like, a hundred miles an hour just to get a few inches off the ground." This actually got Randy to crack a grin. "But seriously, what makes Norrisville, Norrisville? Like how we have ghosts every day."

Randy was silently panicking at this point. He didn't want to embarrass himself, but he didn't want to hurt his identity, either…

"We have a Ninja!" he blurted eventually, resisting the urge to clap his hand over his mouth.

Dani was immediately interested. Maybe this kid could give her some insight on who she'd been fighting alongside with a little bit ago. "A Ninja?" she said, feigning surprise. "Mind explaining?"

"Well… he rescues everybody from monsters and robots that are always attacking," he said. "And he's pretty good at it, too! He's always flipping and punching and kicking…" He didn't know it, but he'd just made the same mistake Dani had made. He'd gotten too excited and had started going on and on about himself.

"Sounds pretty cool," Dani said. Time to drop a bomb… "So is he just some guy that puts on an outfit and then he fights things?"

Randy swore his heart stopped. _Crap!_ She _did_ know something! But did she know that he was the Ninja? Not if he led her off of the trail. "Pfft, what? No, he just shows up whenever!" he laughed nervously.

She nodded. "I see." She tried to keep her voice level, but inside, she was very disappointed. Maybe Noah and Tucker were wrong. But then again… if somebody normal were really the butt-kicking Ninja, wouldn't they want to keep it a secret rather than have everybody crowd them?

Randy was looking for a way to break the awkwardly forming ice when a red glow caught his peripheral vision. Trying to act casual, he turned his head to look over his shoulder, into his backpack, and wouldn't you know it? The trusty Nomicon decided to save his butt.

"I've, er, gotta use the bathroom," he stuttered, using one of the most universal excuses in the book. Without warning, he dashed off in the other direction leaving Dani in the dust.

Of course, she went right after him. "Where are you going?" she called, but he ignored her. Did he even know the way to a bathroom?

But something else was nagging at her mind. As much as Randy would deny it if he knew, she had seen the soft red glow coming from behind him, and she was instantly suspicious. If you're a teenager who deals with ghosts that want to kill you on a daily basis, anything that glows (especially red of all colors) means trouble.

He turned into a random alleyway, and she frowned. "You're going to the bathroom in an alley?" she muttered to herself, continuing to chase after him.

Luck was on Randy's side, because he reached the end of the alley with enough time to pull out the Nomicon, open it, and feel the sensation of being sucked into the book itself.

_Like that monster and the thermos_, he thought to himself as it randomly occurred to him.

Once inside, he was flown around different kinds of people, all drawn way too detailed. He was brought to an abrupt spot in front of a two people, one dressed in a ninja-like outfit and the other drawn in bright, neon colors and dressed in normal clothing. A scroll was floating next to them, and letters rapidly formed on it.

"A ninja must not only protect his identity," he read aloud as the letters appeared, "but protect others identities as well." He frowned. "Uh, no duh, Nomicon!" he said, cracking a bit of a grin. "I know this already! Unless if you're getting on me about telling Howard…"

He wasn't sure what the second half of the message meant. It could be referring to McFist, but wasn't he already doing that as well (whether he wanted to or not)?

Suddenly, though, he felt rocked around, and the figures of people all began to fall over. "Whoa!" he exclaimed. "What's happening here, Nomicon?"

It wasn't the Nomicon's fault, really. It was Dani's.

She'd seen Randy open a square book and his eyes roll up into his head and go slack. She'd raced to him, saying, "Oh my gosh" the entire way. She pressed two fingers to his neck, but felt a pulse fluttering under her skin. She was really confused. "Are you…" she muttered, but then the book caught her eye.

She frowned and picked it up, looking at the pages. As she flipped through them, she noticed that all of them were blank. Whether it was the first or the last or somewhere in the middle, there was no trace of ink on any of the pages.

"You're reading a blank book?" she whispered. Closing it, she examined the cover, which caused her to drop it in surprise.

_The Ninja's face was on the cover_.

That alone caused her to throw it to the ground, putting aside the fact that it'd begun to burn her fingers. What in the world was Randy doing reading a blank book with the Ninja's face on the cover?

Suddenly, the boy lying limp on the ground jerked out of his stupor, and Dani jumped back in surprise. He looked at her, and red flags flew up in his mind. He knew that he'd not left the book with the cover up, and he'd been sure that he'd lost his partner while running away. Then again, this was her town…

"Did you… uh, see any of that?" he asked timidly.

She was speechless, though. Yeah, she'd seen some strange things in her lifetime (all of her classmates trapped in suspended animation that just so happened to be oatmeal? Definitely strange.), but this had to be one of the weirdest. What kind of average freshman passes out when he reads a book with a hero's face on the cover?

Unless…

Was Randy really who he said he was?

"Kind of," she finally managed to get out. "What the heck was that? You looked like you were freaking _dead_!"

"I wasn't dead!" he defended himself. "And I wasn't doing anything!"

"Yeah, because going unconscious is something everybody does when they read a book, especially one with the Ninja's face on the cover!"

Randy was about to try and say something in his defense, but something caught his attention. "How do you know what the Ninja's face looks like? I just told you about m-him, like, five minutes ago!"

Dani floundered for an answer. "I-I saw something on the news," she lied, but it was a bad lie. It came out more like a question than a response.

"Then why did you have to ask about him?"

"Why are you avoiding the subject? I know something's up here, Randy, and I'm not the kind of girl that will just drop the subject," she said, beginning to get agitated.

He was feeling the same way. "It's nothing you need to worry about, okay? I… um, passed out because I was running for a long time, and I was really hot." It was his turn to lie now.

She didn't buy it. "It's 67 degrees out here. How are you overheated? And you barely ran for more than forty-five seconds!"

"I h-have a medical issue, alright? It's nothing you need to worry about, I can take care of myself."

She eyed him suspiciously. She wasn't quite sure about the validity of his excuse, and it had nothing to do with the book. Despite what she'd said not twenty seconds ago, she decided to let it go for now, then catch him off guard later. Something was up with this boy, and she was determined to find out.

"Okay," she said, much calmer now. "I'll be more careful. I'm sorry, okay? You gave me a big scare."

Randy felt a little guilty for lying to her, so he apologized as well. "I didn't mean to freak you out," he said.

She turned and began to walk out of the alleyway, and he followed close behind, but not before picking up the Nomicon. _That was close_, he thought. Maybe these Amity Park people weren't as stupid as Norrisvillians.

"So, where do you want to go?" she asked, trying to sound casual.

He was confused. "What are you talking about? You're the one that lives here, not me."

Dani shrugged. "I don't know. I can't really think of any place I want to take you, so just look around for something, and I'll take you there."

He considered it an okay deal. It was a bit weird to see her change from somebody who was totally worried about him to somebody who was letting him pick where they would go. He ignored this thought, though, and scanned the city skyline. Standing out against the bright blue sky was something that looked suspiciously like a flying saucer – a metal disc-like building with telescopes and satellites and all kinds of contraptions sticking out from every which way.

"There," he said, pointing to it. "Let's go there."

She stiffened when she saw where he wanted to go. She totally recognized that place, and that was probably the one place he did not want to take him. "Oohh," she said, laughing very tightly and nervously. "You don't want to go there!" Her tone was strained, even though she was attempting to sound casual.

"Yeah, I do! It looks cool!"

She bit her lip. She did promise him that she would take him wherever he wanted… and she hated to break a promise, even if it was to a boy she'd known for a half-hour tops…

"Alright," she agreed grudgingly. "Just… be prepared for it."

**Oh my gosh, I am so sorry for the wait! Once again, I got major writer's block in the middle of it (where it sounds way too awkward and drawn out), and it took me forever to get past it. So I really apologize, and I will try to get the next chapter out quickly!**

**So Dani's onto Randy… but don't worry. He'll start to become suspicious about her soon enough. And we'll revisit Vlad and his partners in crime soon, so stay tuned, and leave a review!**

**-CatchingWind**


	7. Weird Friends and Weirder Blood

**I'm doing a horrible job at using RC:9GN language. So I hope the first part of this kind of makes up for that.**

**And it's Randy's turn to get suspicious. Oh, how I love being an authoress… :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own DP or RC:9GN**

Exchangeability

Randy was seriously not expecting this when he saw the flying-saucer-thing.

"Wow," was all that he said.

Dani was really interested in her shoes. "I know, it's really weird, but –"

"This is so _bruce_!"

She lifted her head. She'd never heard that word used as an adjective before. Was it good or bad? "I'm sorry, did you say 'bruce'?" she said, squinting at him.

He looked at her like she had three heads. "You don't know what 'bruce' means?"

She shook her head. "Obviously not."

"Hel-_lo_? It's the cheese, it's awesome, it's cool, you know?"

She did know now, though she was wondering about the phrase "it's the cheese" as well. And she was relieved that he liked her house, because most kids her age didn't.

Randy gazed up at the neon sign. "Fenton Works," he read aloud. Something clicked in his brain. "Wait, isn't Fenton your last name?"

She sighed. She was done for now. "Yeah. This is my house. Like I said, it's creepy, and I hate the sign…"

"Are you kidding me? I think it's beyond cool! I want something like that in my room!"

She cracked a little smile. "Well –"

"DANI!"

She whirled around on her heel to see two boys bolting towards her. "What?" she muttered, bewildered. Where were their partners? And were they going to slow down?

Clearly, the answer was no. They almost knocked her over when they ran into her and clutched onto her legs. Their faces were cherry red, and they were panting like dogs. How long had they been running?

"You have got to save us!" one said. He was Noah Manson, heir to the cellophane-twirling business and son of two of the richest people in town. And also very indecisive at times. But he could tell you how to do pretty much anything and could also tell you random facts. Sometimes, they didn't help, but she enjoyed his comments.

"Save you from what?" she asked. If it was a ghost, wouldn't they have the decency to call her rather than practically scream her secret to her partner?"

"From _them_," the other boy said gravely. He was Tucker Foley, Amity Park's local techno-geek. He could fix any piece of technology, win at any videogame, and even hack into government files. It came in handy, and she was happy to have him as a friend.

Poor Randy was just confused. Obviously, these guys knew Dani in some way, but who were they? And who did they need saving from? On instinct, he moved his hand to his pocket and wrapped it around the Ninja mask.

"Who are 'them'?"

The two boys gave her pointed looks. "You know!" said the African-American one. Randy didn't know why, but her eyes widened. He noticed her shooting him a look, a I-have-something-to-do-but-I-can't-tell-you-because-it-will-come-back-and-smack-me-in-the-butt look.

"Well, I'm kind of preoccupied," she said slowly. Her tone was trying to send a message to the two boys hugging her legs, and they got it.

"Oh, no, it's not… _that_," the second boy said with realization. "It's our partners!"

Dani sighed inwardly with relief. She didn't really feel like fighting a ghost at the moment anyway. Hopefully, she hadn't tipped Randy off or anything. And speaking of him…

"Well, then why are you asking me?" she said. "Talk to him about it!" She jabbed a thumb towards the black-haired boy.

"Um, not to be rude," he said, "but who are you two?"

"I'm Noah, he's Tucker," the brown-haired boy said impatiently. "Now help us!"

Dani leaned over and smacked Noah's head. He rubbed it as she said, "Excuse their rudeness. Randy, this is Noah Manson and Tucker Foley, my two best friends. Noah, Tucker, this is Randy Cunningham, my partner," she said, gesturing to each boy.

"Yeah, nice to meet you," Tucker said. "Now please save us from those lunatics!"

"Who?" Randy asked. Maybe he could redeem himself in Dani's eyes if he was able to help her two friends survive his classmates.

Simultaneously, Noah said, "Bucky!" and Tucker said, "Bash!" He almost didn't understand them, especially because the names began with the same letter. But he nodded his head once when he deciphered the names.

"Well, with Bucky, just go along with whatever he does or says," he advised, thinking about how the triangle player was very emotional and how he did _not_ want to deal with stankage today right after the… ghost. "Bash… um, he's not that smart, so maybe you can use that against him."

"Yeah, but he and Dash keep running into each other, and they keep arguing about who's the better quarterback!" Tucker wailed. "My life is in danger, I'm telling you!"

For some odd reason, Dani scoffed aloud, but Randy ignored it.

"Then tell Bash he's the better quarterback! I don't know!"

"Hold on a second," Noah interrupted. "Does anybody else see what I see? Bash… Dash? Both bullies, both quarterbacks, both kind of stupid?"

Dani face-palmed her forehead. "Oh, my gosh. How is that even possible?" She was incredulous.

Tucker laughed once, quietly. "Says the girl who…" He was stopped by a ferocious glare from his female friend. Randy got the feeling that the African-American boy was about to reveal something he wasn't supposed to, and this made him suspicious. Was his partner hiding something?

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" she said coldly. It definitely said that it was time for the two boys to go.

They finally stood up and brushed the dirt off their pants. "Alright, Miss Crabby-pants," Noah muttered. "Come on, Tucker." They left, and Dani and Randy were left alone again.

She gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. The three of us can be… weird sometimes," she said.

He flipped his hand. "It's okay. Now, can I see the inside of this place?"

Her eyes widened a bit. "Oh… well, I suppose…" she mumbled. Suddenly, she was wracked with nervousness again. Would he like the inside as much as the outside? Only time would tell.

She led the way, opening the door cautiously. "Mom?" she called out. "Dad?"

A feminine, muffled voice said, "Down here, Dani!"

Her face paled, and she closed her eyes and shook her head. "You've _got _to be kidding me…" she whispered.

"What?" he asked.

Her lips were in a tight line. "Nothing. Just… follow me."

She led him into the kitchen, which was simple enough. Yellow walls, circular table, average appliances. Randy was a bit disappointed. Shouldn't a house with a flying saucer on top of it and a glowing neon sign attached to its side have more high-tech gear?

But she wasn't done. She led him to a door on the left wall, which he thought was a pantry. Oh, gosh, why was she leading him to a pantry? When she opened the door, though, he was surprised to see a staircase leading down into a basement. They began their descent.

Randy was rendered speechless when he hit the linoleum flooring. _This _was what he'd been expecting the interior of her house to look like. Lining the left and right walls were lab tables covered with beakers, glass vials, Bunsen burners, and half-finished gadgets. There were computers and control panels galore, all of them beeping and flashing brilliant colors. The most impressive thing, though, was the angular ring on the far back wall. He had no clue what it did, but the fact that it was hidden by a black and yellow striped wall (or was it a door?) made it all the more interesting.

Huddled in the corner, tinkering with what looked like some sort of gun, were a man and a woman of total contrast. The man was wearing a neon orange and black HAZMAT suit, and it had to be triple XL. If this was Dani's dad, she certainly didn't inherit his weight gene. He had glittering blue eyes and black hair, though the back of it was colored white (as for why, he had no idea). As for the woman, she was wearing a petite turquoise and black jumpsuit. Most of her face was masked by a turquoise hood paired with red goggles.

"Mom, Dad? This is Randy Cunningham," Dani was saying. "He's –"

The man bounced up when he saw the two teenagers. "A new recruit?" he finished for her. "Welcome to the Ghost-kateers, son!" He slapped Randy on the back of his shoulder, and he almost fell over from the force of the blow. Jeez, that guy had some muscle. Either that, or it was just his weight.

"Dad, he's not a recruit! _Nobody_ is a recruit!"

It was the woman's turn to jump up and approach the duo while grinning. "Oh, I thought you were going out with Noah!" she said, and both kids blushed, Dani more than Randy.

"I'm not going out with anybody, Mom!" she insisted. "Randy's from Norrisville. He's my partner from that student exchange program." _That I never told you about_, she added silently.

Mr. Fenton looked disappointed, and Mrs. Fenton just said, "Oh."

Feeling sorry for the embarrassed girl, Randy jumped in. "I, er… well, Dani was, you know, telling me about you guys… and, um… I wanted to see what you did," he supplied. He hoped that the Fenton parents would buy it, especially because the statement ended more like a question than an excuse.

"YES!" Mr. Fenton rejoiced. "_Finally_, one of you kids is interested in ghosts!"

He was confused. Did this family study ghosts or something? Or maybe…

Pfft. Impossible. They _couldn't _be ghosts. They definitely didn't look like the monster back at Casper High.

Mrs. Fenton and Dani watched on as Mr. Fenton led Randy around the lab, picking up different inventions and explaining what each of them did. In length.

After about five minutes of the boy's suffering, Dani stepped in. "Oookay, Dad, I think he's got the idea. I'll show him the rest of the lab, and you can go… um, eat some fudge!" she said, trying to drag Randy away.

The man's face lit up. "Thanks, Dani!" He bounded up the stairs like an over-excited puppy.

Mrs. Fenton sighed and walked to the stairs. "I'd better go supervise him," she said warily to no one in particular.

Left alone, Randy exhaled. "Thanks for the save."

Dani smiled. "Any time. Usually, my friends and I try to stay away from all of the ghost stuff," she explained. _For reasons you don't need to know about._

"Yeah, what's up with that anyway?"

Her face turned grim. "My parents are kinda… obsessedwithghosts," she said, muttering the last part and saying it quickly.

But not quickly enough. He caught on. "Like… do they study them?"

She nodded. "Big time. They're always making new inventions to either annihilate ghosts or hurt them in some major way. Like I said, I stay away from it."

"So then what's that?" he asked, pointing to the mysterious ring on the back wall.

She blanched. "Uh, you don't want to mess with that. Trust me, it gives you a lot of trouble." _For instance,_ she thought dryly, _turning you into a half-ghost_.

He tried to mask his disappointment. He really was curious as to what lie behind that door.

He turned around to look at some of the computers, but ended up knocking two glass beakers over. They landed on the fake tile, shattering into a million pieces. Instantly, both kids squatted down and began to clean up the glass while Randy apologized profusely. She told him it was okay, and that stuff like this happened all the time.

Suddenly, Dani let a hiss escape from her teeth, and she clutched her hand tightly.

Randy looked up. "What happened?"

"I, uh…" she stuttered. "I cut myself." Surprisingly enough, the ever-so-coordinated Dani Phantom had cut herself on a piece of glass. And now the palm of her hand was bleeding a disgusting mix of red blood and green ectoplasm. She tried to cover it with her non-injured hand.

"Really?" he asked. "That's gotta hurt. Let me see."

"No!" she exclaimed all too quickly. "I mean, um, I can take care of myself."

He tapped his chin exaggeratedly. "Now where have I heard that before?" he asked sarcastically.

She blushed. Their roles had basically reversed in this situation. Now she was the victim who didn't want to reveal something.

"I let your little issue go," she tried. The hybrid blood was now beginning to leak from in between her fingers, and it was stinging like crazy. "Now it's your turn to let mine go!"

"But you're hurt." His heroic side was beginning to emerge, and he hated it. Being the Ninja really did change your outlook on things way too much.

"And? You passed out! This is just a little cut!" she said. "Now let me go clean this…"

She stood up, and so did Randy. He grabbed for her hand, and she cried out in surprise. He managed to reveal the cut to his eyes for about one second, but it was enough.

He may have just been imagining things, but he saw not only crimson red blood coming out of the inch-long cut, but something a radiant green. It looked a lot like...

Could it really be the same stuff that had come out of that big lizard?

She twisted her hand out of his grip, scolded him, and ran up the stairs. Great, now she was mad at him. Not the impression he was trying to make on her, but…

Why was that green stuff coming out of her hand? Along with regular blood? And it looked so much like what had come out of the lizard when it had been cut.

Maybe his accusation of the Fenton family being ghosts wasn't too far off.

Gears turning in his head, he scanned the room. His dark blue eyes fell on the metallic ring, and a devious grin appeared on his face.

Dani had told him not to mess with it, but he was all too curious… and he was down here alone…

As quiet as he possibly could, he snuck over to it, standing upright. To the side, there was a panel with a red button, reading 'open/close'.

_Bingo!_ he thought eagerly. He reached towards the button, his hand quivering with excitement.

Obviously, he must've done something wrong, because the moment his fingers brushed the button, alarms started blaring and ringing throughout the household.

**Hah. Cliffie. Gotta love 'em, right?**

**Anyway, I got this great idea that I'm definitely going to include in the chapter after the next one. Hopefully you guys will like it…**

**Thanks for the feedback you've been giving me, guys! I had no idea this would be so popular (okay, maybe it's not as popular as other stories I've read, but 35 reviews in six chapters is popular to me)! I love reading what you guys have to say!**

**(And now I can do it on my new iPod Touch! Yeah!)**

**-CatchingWind**


	8. Three is the Evil Number

**Schyah. Next chapter.**

**I know I left you with a cliffie, but it's time to check back in with Vladdie and his friends. Or not-so-friends. We'll see.**

**Disclaimer: This plotline is one of the only things I own. Not DP or RC:9GN**

Exchangeability

"This," Mayor Vlad Masters said, clicking a button on a remote, "is Dani Phantom." Hovering in the air was an image of a teenage girl with white hair, green eyes, and an odd black and white outfit.

"Kids these days," Viceroy muttered under his breath.

"And this," the silver-haired man continued, pressing another button, "is Danielle Fenton. As hard as it is to believe, the two girls are one and the same." A girl with black hair and blue eyes popped up and the picture floated next to the first one.

Yes, Vlad had just played one of his most dangerous cards. It was an unspoken agreement between the two half-ghost enemies that if one spilled the other's secret, then the first one's secret would be revealed not two minutes later. Therefore, the situation remained neutral, but it was a situation much like the Cold War. Anything could trigger it, and it would blow up in their faces.

But if his diabolical plan was to succeed, her secret would have to come out to these two Norrisvillians. Oh, certainly not his. Not in a million years. But it would definitely help his purpose if Danielle's identity was revealed to McFist and Viceroy.

"How?" McFist asked in his gravelly voice. Viceroy, however, remained silent for once. The gears in his mind were turning, wondering how these two girls could be the same.

Vlad was one step ahead of the partners. "She is not a regular human. She is a hybrid between a human and a ghost, and she poses a great threat to my city."

Viceroy gasped, and his face lit up. "Fascinating!" he said, stepping a bit closer to the pictures. Vlad pressed a third button, and information pulled up regarding her vitals, her powers, and topics like that. The purple-coated scientist was in heaven.

"Ghosts are real?" McFist asked, not quite catching on. He wasn't as academically challenged as his stepson, Bash, but he struggled to grasp onto certain concepts at times.

Vlad feigned a distressed sigh. "Alas, they are. And this young girl is one of the most dangerous of them all. Needless to say, it is my goal to rid myself and my city of her before she causes some real damage. I have called on you two exceptional men to aid me in my conquest."

The two partners were now facing the incognito half-ghost. "What's in it for us?" McFist asked, frowning. Viceroy put his hands on his hips.

Vlad's grin could wither a healthy rose. "I thought you'd never ask. See, as I said before, I couldn't help but overhear that you have a foe you would like to destroy. Mind describing him to me?"

"Oh, the Ninja is a nuisance!" Viceroy started. "My robots just won't cut it!"

"What do you mean 'your robots'?" McFist growled.

"Ex-_cuuse_ me, but I'm the one who built them!" the African-American man retorted. "Do I see you creating deadly robots? No!"

"Gentlemen, gentlemen," Vlad intervened. "Let's not argue here, and let's focus on our goal. Could you describe him in a bit more detail, please?"

"There's not much more to describe," McFist said, "because my sensors in my robots are always destroyed along with them!" Viceroy began spluttering about how the sensors and robots were _his_ and not McFist's.

Vlad was a bit disappointed. Knowing this Ninja's abilities would be able to help him figure out exactly how he would execute his plan. He would have to send out more of his spy-bugs to gain footage and information. "Shame."

"But what are you going to do for us?" Viceroy asked again. They were beginning to get impatient.

"Ah, there's the million-dollar question," he said. "If you help me get rid of my enemy, I will help you get rid of yours. All you have to do is help me create the monsters needed to kill them both off." And it was true. That's all he really needed help with.

McFist and Viceroy shared a glance. This was a new experience for them; they'd never been asked to do something specific, except for possibly the Sorcerer. But they both knew they were capable of helping this poor mayor. And how could they resist the offer to have the Ninja destroyed.

They looked at him, and said simultaneously, "Deal!"

Vlad smiled evilly. He prided himself in the perfection of his evil grin. But, of course, that was beside the point.

"Perfect! Let us begin our work then!"

**Gosh, villains are so hard to write for. Especially Vlad of all villains.**

**So, yeah, I'm sorry for the short chapter. I thought it was needed, but now that I read it over again, it wasn't. So I'm sorry for that. But I promise you that I will make up for it in the next chapter.**

**And you guys should be so proud of me for updating twice in one night. This is a rare occasion, so to celebrate, cyber-on-sale-Christmas-candy for everyone! *throws candy***

**(I shouldn't say this, but can I expect double reviews? (; )**

**-CatchingWind**


	9. Double the Heroes, Double the Fights

**Okay, so my life isn't completely sorted out, but I'm feeling a bit better. Still kind of stressed, but that's life, right?**

**Anyway, this is just basically an edit of the chapter. I only changed the ending, because I realized that I had absolutely nowhere to go with the previous ending. Plus I like this one much better.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own DP or RC:9GN**

Exchangeability

Randy withdrew his hand like the button was laced with electricity when the alarms began blaring and red lights began flashing. Jeez, he'd barely touched the thing! Had it been him who'd set it off? Maybe he should've listened to his partner…

He heard shouts coming from the upper level. Mr. and Mrs. Fenton were both yelling, "Ghost!" He turned his head to see the oddly dressed couple thundering down the stairs.

"Randy, get upstairs to safety!" Mrs. Fenton ordered as she snatched up a rather large silver and green gun. "And find Dani as well!"

Mr. Fenton was babbling on and on about how he would rip that ghost apart molecule by molecule when he got a hold of it. The freshman boy wondered how Dani lived with this craziness.

Obeying his partner's parents, he raced up the stairs. "Dani!" he called out. "Dani, where are you?" His calls were almost drowned out by the incessant alarms, and he began to worry. After searching the entire first floor, he bolted up another flight of stairs to the second floor. Every room was empty.

This called for desperate measures. He slipped the black and red Ninja mask out of his pocket and pulled it over his head. There was no time to register the elongating ribbons snapping around his body and fitting to him perfectly. A new energy coursed through him, and he now felt as if he could do anything.

He was in what looked like Dani's room. There was a fire escape right outside her window, and he flipped out it, landing on the rusted metal with a clang. He 'ninja-sprinted' up the metallic stairs so that he was standing on the roof.

Once again, there was the enigmatic ghost girl face-to-face with not one, but multiple ghosts. There was one who stood apart from the rest, though. He was seemed to be a snow white, including his skin and suit, with purple pinstripes, gloves, and boots. The rest of them were bright green with no legs, and wore armor that looked suspiciously like a police officer's. There had to be about a dozen of those kind.

"We won't have to hurt you if you just come with us," the white ghost was saying in a deep, Western voice.

Dani Phantom laughed. "Yeah, right! Since when?"

Randy made a move forward, planning on jumping in as a surprise like the last time, but he wasn't so stealthy this time. Dani saw him out of the corner of her eye, smirked, and said, "You're late again."

"Make a guy feel bad, huh?" he said. It was odd, exchanging banter like this as if they were old friends. But he had to admit, he liked it.

"Who is that?" the white guy asked. He asked it in a tone, though, that made it sound like Randy was dog poop or something.

"Him?" Dani said, her eyes not leaving the masked face. "He's the Ninja, from Norrisville. And this is the second time he's shown up late for a battle again."

"Who said there was going to be a battle?"

"Maybe because she's not going with you willingly, that's why," Randy said, stepping forward again.

This seemed to offend her, though. "Oh, so now I can't speak for myself, can I?"

Mr. White Guy was now furious. "Enough! Now come with us, or we'll arrest you!"

Even though his voice was becoming threatening and dangerous, she still smirked at him. "But that would be redundant, of course," she said simply.

Something jolted in Randy's head. Hadn't somebody else said that earlier? He couldn't remember who, though, what with all of this crazy ghost stuff…

While he'd been thinking, Dani had sprung forward into a front flip, her booted feet landing solidly on Walker's chest. He fell for about ten feet, then righted himself. He still clutched a hand to where his heart would've been if he were alive.

"Get her!" he ordered. "No, get both of them!"

"Me?" the Ninja asked. "What did I do?"

In spite of the danger the duo was about to face, she just smiled and shook her head. "You showed up, that's what."

He was about to ask why he was in trouble for coming to the battle, but three of those armed ghosts were coming straight for him. He pulled out his chain-sickle and lassoed it around all three of them. He flipped forward, lifting the dazed ghosts along with his momentum. At the peak of his flip, when he was facing the ground, he threw the bundle forward and sent the goons towards the cement below.

Meanwhile, Dani was head-to-head with Walker. His little minions were circling around her and the Ninja, but she figured if she could take out the leader, it would be easier to defeat the rest. He had a pink ball of ecto-energy growing steadily in his cupped hands, and he shot it towards her. She was anticipating the attack, though, because she shaped her own green ecto-energy into a round shield. It bounced back towards him hitting him right where she'd kicked him moments ago.

One grinning officer, though, snuck up behind her and zapped her in the back with his nightstick. She cried out in pain and began to fall from loss of focus. Jeez, Walker had to have upgraded his officers' weaponry, because that energy had hurt like heck. She even panicked a little when she felt her ghostly side pull back a little and her human side began to emerge. It was an odd sensation to explain, but basically saying, she came *thisclose* to changing back to Dani Fenton.

_Okay, new plan. Get rid of the zappers._

Her eyes widened as she caught herself in mid-air and zoomed upwards. If it hurt her that bad, imagine what the Ninja would feel if one of those blasts hit him…

"Hey!" she shouted. "Don't let them hit you with those gun-things!"

Speaking of the Ninja, Randy was having quite the time trying to ward off the fedora-wearing ghost's minions. His chain-sickle was gone, keeping three of them down on the ground. His swords were doing nothing to help, because they just kept disappearing right through them. What was that word again? Intangibility? They were using tons of that against him, and he hated it.

"What will hit you guys?" he muttered under his breath, irritated. He managed to uppercut-kick one in the chin, completely knocking off its helmet. Of course, right after that, one got him in the gut, almost making him fall off of the two-story tall roof of the Fenton household.

And then he heard Dani Phantom's warning. Gun-things? What things?

A flash of pink caught his eye. One of the goons had a foot long stick in his hands, and a pink energy was building up at the end of it. Whatever it was, it didn't look good, because it crackled with what looked like electricity. And if she was warning against it, he definitely wanted to avoid it.

There wasn't much time to think, though. The goon released the energy, and it came flying towards him. Instinctively, he raised his katana. Somehow, he was able to deflect the oncoming attack with his reflective sword. Just like with Dani's ecto-shield, the energy bounced back towards the goon and hit him squarely. He shouted in pain, then fell onto the rooftop and did not get back up.

He got an idea. Clearly, whatever energy was coming out of those nightsticks that Dani had told him about would not only affect him (probably in a negative way), but it also affected the ghosts that were attacking.

He sprinted forward and snatched the stick out of the sort-of unconscious goon's hands. He aimed it at an oncoming foe, pressed a button on its side, and shot some of that nasty pink energy towards him. The ghost had an almost identical reaction as the first one had. Randy smiled under his mask. Now _he_ had the advantage. And over dead guys at that.

Alas, the young heroine was not having the same amount of luck as her Ninja partner. She knew she had to avoid the ecto-energy coming out from the officers' weapons, but it was kind of difficult to evade those attacks while also trying to take out Walker.

She found herself between said ghost and one of his minions. The latter had another ball of pink energy building up, and the warden was lunging forward to try and grab her. White hair flipping back and forth, she glanced at both opponents, then, just as the officer released the ecto-energy, she shot up into the sky like a rocket. Walker, unable to brake fast enough, was caught in the crossfire. She laughed out loud when she saw his own attack backfire on him.

Unfortunately, the rules-obsessed ghost was much more resilient than his aides. He faltered for a second, but still stayed afloat. "Dang it," she whispered under her breath. She was sure that would've worked.

"Attacking a superior?" Walker growled menacingly. "That's another thousand years!"

"A thousand years?" The Ninja's voice rang out across the remaining battle. "Jeez, what did you do, and what are you doing for a thousand years?"

She rolled her eyes. "Apparently, I existed. So now I'm under arrest. Fun, right?"

"And you," the warden said, whirling around to face Randy. "You're not off the hook, either! Aiding a fugitive? That's at least 750 years!"

"Oh, relax, Walkie-Talkie," Dani said exasperatedly. "He didn't do anything except help me."

"I think that was his point," Randy said, frowning slightly.

She flashed him her infamous grin. "Yeah, but I'm the good guy, and I worded it differently. There's a difference."

He didn't get it, though. That was like saying she was helping him, which was the same thing.

"You're through, punk!" Walker yelled. He bolted forward to grab the young girl, yet she stayed frozen.

"Dani!" Randy shouted, grabbing her attention. He hurled the weapon in his hands to her, and she caught it with ease. It felt like one of those action movie scenes where they change it into slow-motion. She held it up, aimed it right for his head, and fired it all within a second. It seemed like five minutes to the masked hero, though.

The pink blast startled Walker. He tried to evade the attack, but it struck him right where he'd been hit twice before. That set him over the edge. He fell to the ground, unable to keep himself up.

Dani turned to the remaining officers. "Get out of here, before the same happens to you!" she barked, and they scattered off in different directions. She pulled a Fenton Thermos from out of seemingly nowhere and proceeded to suck up all of the defeated ghosts.

Both ninja and ghost stood on the roof, silence strangling them.

"So… um," Randy started, unsure what to say. Gosh, why could he be witty and amusing during battles, but afterwards, he turned into a bumbling idiot.

The green-eyed girl's eyebrows shot up, and she turned around to look over the edge.

"Wait, what are you –"

"_Sssshhhh!_" she hissed, leaping forward to clap a hand over his mouth. He was surprised at first, but when the motion registered in his head, he began to struggle against her hold.

What stopped him, though, was the fact that his entire body had simply… _disappeared._

_What the juice?_ he thought, frustrated. He'd had enough of this paranormal madness for one day, and now he couldn't see himself. Just great.

He still felt Dani's cold hand on him, but it was now clasping his arm, and his mouth was free. Oddly enough, he couldn't see her, either.

He was about to protest when he heard voices. He recognized them as his partner's parents, who were ranting about destroying ghosts.

"Jack, look!" he heard Mrs. Fenton say in shock.

"What is it, Mads? Did we get 'em?" Mr. Fenton (Jack?) asked excitedly.

"No! All traces of ecto-energy have completely disappeared!"

"What? But how? The alarms were just going crazy a second ago!"

It clicked in Randy's mind. So _that's_ what had set off the alarm. He was glad he wasn't in trouble for touching the weird door's controls.

"I don't know, honey. I don't have any explanation!"

"Maybe they gave us the slip! Those evil punks! Come on, Maddie, let's go track them down!"

Randy listened closely as he heard an engine start up, and he saw what looked like a really advanced RV zoom off down the street. Moments later, though, he heard a metallic clang, and he winced. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know what it was that caused that sound.

Dani, meanwhile, breathed a sigh in relief when she heard her parents drive away in the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle. She guessed her father had been driving when she heard it crash against what had to be a lamppost. Her mother was way to coordinated to do something like that.

She took her hands off of the Ninja, who returned to the visible plane as soon as her touch left him. She, too, lost her invisibility and faced her sort-of partner.

He noticed he could see himself again and examined his hands. "What the…?"

She stood up and brushed herself off. "Well, I hate to ditch you like this, but… bye!" She rose off into the sky, ready to find a place to transform back to her human self.

But Randy had other ideas. He didn't know what got into him, but he would later assume that he'd just been sick and tired of not having answers. He took his scarf, looped it around, and threw it towards the ghost girl. Because she wasn't paying attention, it managed to snap around her ankle, catching her and causing her to lose her focus. She barely had enough time to turn around and get a glimpse of what had trapped her before she fell and slammed into the roof.

"Ugh…" she groaned as she struggled to sit up. Okay, she had to talk to her parents about getting new roofing. Maybe even installing carpet. Some of these falls she took really got to her.

Randy jumped over to her and straddled her legs. "I want answers," he said, and nothing more.

Dani frowned. Of course, with her life, she got stuck with a guy who was helping her battle the dead one minute, then demanding stuff from you. Just her luck. "You know that there's a nicer way to ask."

"At this point, I don't really care. I just want to know what's going on around here."

She began to panic at this point. Surely poor Randy had to be wondering where the heck she was and if she was hurt or not. She had to end this stupid thing and fast.

Being careful of his body, she launched her legs off of the ground, then used the momentum to spring her upper body off the ground.

Randy couldn't help it. His ninja-instincts made him flash his arm out to grab her and bring her down again. She, however, noticed his movement, and used the hand that he wasn't going for to grab his. She was tempted to swing him over her shoulder (that was always fun), but she hesitated. If Noah and Tucker were right, then there was a poor freshman just like her hiding behind that mask. She didn't like being smacked into brick, so why should he get the same treatment?  
He used her hesitation to his advantage. He flipped backwards, wrenching his hand out of her grip. He performed a second back flip to put a good ten feet between them.

They were kind of at a moot point now. Each was in a battle stance, adrenaline rushing through their blood (or ectoplasm, in Dani's case), and their nerves were on high. Instincts from being attacked so many times by so many enemies were taking over, and they couldn't control it.

Randy lunged forward, ready to knock her down again, but she counter-attacked by putting up another one of her ecto-shields. He saw it moments before impact, and somehow managed to jump up, bring his foot down at the very top, and cause it and her to tip backwards. He used it to spring up into the air while spinning, then prepared to kick her down.

But Dani was ready. She was a bit thrown off by his attempt to use her shield to gain more air, but as he came back down, she flashed into intangibility, and he landed on his feet. Because he'd gotten so high, the force from hitting the ground knocked him over, ironically enough.

When she returned from intangibility, he reached out quickly and grabbed both of her ankles. He threw her backwards with a newfound strength and stood up quickly. She still bested him by thrusting her hands out over her head and landing on them, then hand-springing back up onto her feet.

But she wasn't up for long. Randy had more time to compose himself, and he jumped forward, feet first. Just like she'd done with the white ghost from earlier, he struck her in her chest and knocked her onto her back. Dani fell with great force and tried her hardest to get back up and retaliate, but he put his knees on either side of her waist, pulled out his two katanas, and stabbed each of them into the roof so that one was on each side of her neck, just mere centimeters away from cutting her.

They stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity. They were both panting and gasping for breath (Randy didn't register that a ghost didn't have to breathe), and they were both covered in sweat. He was a bit worried. He knew she could transform into that mist or whatever it was and escape his grasp, and then they'd be back at square one again.

But much to his surprise, she _smiled_ at him.

"Kudos," she told him breathily, still recuperating from the second battle.

He leaned back in shock. "Kudos? What are you talking about?"

Carefully, she reached out and pulled both swords out of the roof. He almost tried to knock her down again, but she threw them both to the side, out of their reach. She wiggled out from in between his knees and knelt across from him.

"Well, you're kind of the first person who's ever been able to do anything like _that_ to me," she explained.

At first, he highly doubted it, but as he thought about it, it made sense. He didn't have those fancy energy beams to shoot her with; he only had his skills given to him by the ninja suit and the weapons that came along with it.

And, he hated to admit it, but she was the first person to actually put up a good fight with him. All of the enemies he'd faced so far were either mindless robots who were beaten with the same strategy every time or monsters who were so focused on fulfilling their dearest wish that they were too busy to actually fight him. She, however, had true experience, and she was smart enough to learn how he fought as they progressed. It was unnatural for him.

"Er, same here," he muttered.

She continued to grin at him. "Look, you're nice and all, and you've got some pretty cool fighting skills. You can do stuff that I only wish I could do. I want to answer your questions, but doing so may spell trouble for me. I've got some stuff that really should stay right where it is. I bet the same is for you."

His eyebrows knit together under the soft fabric of his mask. He did have secrets that should never get out… and he could see where she was coming from…

She saw that he hesitated to answer. "Anyway, like I said before, I've gotta go. You know, town to protect and all. Hope to see you around again, I guess." She launched off of the rooftop and into the sky.

"Wait!" Randy called.

This time, she actually turned around to see what he needed. She did not want to be thrown into the roof again. "Yes?"

He struggled to get the words out of his mouth. "So, like, why didn't you just get up and keep fighting me? I mean, obviously you could've if you wanted to."

She smiled at him, a knowing smile. "Because you're a kid, just like me," she said simplistically, green eyes glinting with a tinge of playfulness.

As she took off into the sky, the young Ninja just stood there, heart pounding. _How did she know?_

**About updates, don't expect them to be fast. We're moving into a house in a few weeks, and that will take a lot of time out of my schedule, plus I have auditions for high school band coming up. Yay, right? Anyway, please don't nag me, because I know you'll want updates, and I'll try and get them up ASAP. It also depends on my inspiration at the time.**

**Anywho, go ahead and leave a review if you'd like, and I'll try and get a new chapter up soon!**

**-CatchingWind**


	10. The Strange and the Just Plain Weird

**In case if you didn't get the memo, I tweaked the ending of chapter 9 just a little bit, which is taking this story in a different direction. Not totally different, but don't worry about it. I've got this under control.**

**Disclaimer: In other news, I don't own DP or RC:9GN. *GASP***

Exchangeability

The most unlikely duo in the world was at the mall, eating burgers and fries from the Nasty Burger stand in the food court. The two were feeling surprisingly calm considering their small dilemma a little bit ago. However, after Randy and Dani tracked each other down (after resuming their normal kid modes, of course), she quickly explained to him that she'd been using the bathroom and when the alarm went off, she hid in the discreet Fenton Ghost Shelter.

She conveniently left out the fact that said Fenton Ghost Shelter was nonexistent.

And he reassured her that he'd been protected by her parents and that they had done an extraordinarily good job of keeping him safe. Not that he was telling the truth either, but at this point, lying was normal to him.

Dishonesty aside, the two of them agreed that it was about time for lunch. Randy had asked if there was any good place to get food in the city. In response, she'd simply given him a knowing smile and said, "Do I?" And that's how they ended up at the mall.

Randy was determined to get into the mysterious life of his partner. He hadn't forgotten about what'd happened right before the ghost attack, what with the strange fluid coming out of her wound. And considering her parents' occupation, he had a feeling that she knew something about the strange occurrences with ghosts.

"So…" he began, a bit too casually, "do you have any idea what that was all about?"

Dani finished swallowing the sip of soda she had in her mouth and set her cup down. "Any idea about what?"

"That, uh… ghost attack. I mean, you would know something about it, right?"

She tried to resist letting her eyes open wide and spitting out the second drink of soda she'd taken. Instead, she gulped it down nervously, coughing on it in the process. "Well, um, that's not necessarily my area of expertise," she lied… again. Why was she panicking all of a sudden? It's not like this was any different to lying to her parents or her peers. Then again, this was an exchange student she was talking to…

"Oh," he said disappointedly. "I just thought… well, I mean… your parents…"

She blinked quickly and regained her composure. Time to smooth-talk out of this. "Yeah, that is what a lot of kids think. But I personally hate what they do. Thought that might have been obvious, but I guess not." She gave a little laugh and put on her best innocent expression that she could manage.

He looked at her suspiciously. Where had the blubbering, stammering girl gone that had been there seconds before? It was as if she'd completely switched personalities in a snap.

He decided to push his luck. "Are you positive you don't know a _thing_ about the ghosts that attacked your house?"

She shook her head. "Not a clue. Am I supposed to know this stuff?"

He hesitated a second. "No. Sorry."

"It's okay. I shouldn't have assumed anything."

She smiled a little and looked back down at her waiting food, ready to take a fry and pop it in her waiting mouth. Randy raised an eyebrow when her eyes suddenly widened a bit and her hand flew up to her mouth. She coughed once, glanced at him, then suddenly began coughing violently.

"Are you okay?" he asked, not sure what to think of this. Did she always have random coughing fits?

She coughed into her fist one more time for a good measure. "Uh, yeah. Think I might just… ah, need a drink," she said, abruptly standing up and running off.

"Wait! You have…" he began to call, but she was already gone. His dark blue eyes turned back towards the plastic Nasty Burger cup, which she'd been drinking out of not too long ago. He picked it up, and when he did, it was still quite heavy with soda.

So why had she run off to get a drink when she had an almost full cup sitting in front of her?

Then, numerous things happened at once; he could barely process it all. First, the air temperature dropped drastically, causing him to unconsciously shiver. Then, he could barely hear it, but there was a small groan from above him, which quickly turned into an ear-splitting, shattering crash as an enormous, metallic monster came tumbling through the glass roof up high, followed by a much smaller but equally as frightening technical creature.

He managed to duck out of the way in time, barely registering the fact that the larger monster was falling directly towards him. He came very close to being turned into Ninja-goop, but he still escaped alive.

"Come back here!" he heard a deep voice yell angrily. He looked up to see that the remark had come from the smaller, flying monster. This one had an entirely silver-metal suit of armor, complete with black and neon green accents. Matching, solid green eyes and a flaming mohawk finished off the look, giving the impression that this was not someone you wanted to mess around with.

Unfortunately for Randy, he was the Ninja. And the Ninja had to deal with these creepers.

Ignoring the damage behind him, he turned on his heel and began dashing towards a sign reading "Restrooms." However, he almost got blown over by a speeding bullet of black and white, bright green energy trailing behind it. He was on the verge of saying, "What the juice?" when he realized he'd seen this exact same blur of color earlier that day.

"_Dani Phantom_," he breathed reverently, casting a glance behind him to see his female idol. His daydream was interrupted by the responsible voice in his head, telling him that he, like the young ghost girl, had a job to do. He ran off towards the men's restroom, ready to assume his alias.

In the meantime, said ghostly heroine was cursing herself internally. Of all the times for her ghost sense to go off… should she feel thankful that it saved her from the awkward interrogation, or should she resent it for adding more suspicion to her partner's doubts?

But there was no time to think about that. As she sped towards the scene of destruction, she could see a machete emerge from both of Skulker's wrists and aim towards the gigantic robot currently mowing down the entire eastern half of the mall. She was actually quite surprised at the robot's appearance; it was nothing like she'd ever seen in any of her enemy's designs before. It was quite tall, seeing as it almost reached the fifty-five foot ceiling. It was surprisingly humanoid, having actual appendages and what looked like a domed head. The only thing that was different about this robot was that it had quite the array of weapons to go with it – almost as impressive as Skulker's.

Speaking of the hunter…

"Skulker!" she shouted, grabbing his attention. "I'm hurt. I thought I was your special prey or whatever you call me, not… this thing," she shouted, gesturing towards the rampaging robot.

His grin turned malicious. "Well, since you mentioned it…" he said, beginning his advance on her, "there's always time for you, ghost child." With the end of his sentence, his rocket boosters propelled him quickly forward.

She anticipated the attack though. In an instant, she'd whipped out her trusty Fenton Thermos, uncapped it, and aimed it at her most frequent enemy. "I don't think so!" she cried, unleashing the misty blue vortex. It sucked him in, and she slammed the cap on it once more.

"Come on, Skulkie. You're getting rusty," she joked, rattling the Thermos. Then, her attitude turned much more serious. "And as for you," she muttered, directing her attention to the mechanical monstrosity. Making sure Skulker was secure in his new entrapment, she opened the Thermos again. However, when she pressed the button that allowed the ghost to be vacuumed in, nothing happened.

She frowned, releasing the button and pressing it again, only to receive the same results. "What gives?" she asked in frustration, slapping the cylinder against her palm.

While she was fiddling with the supposedly defunct device, Randy emerged from the bathroom, now dressed as the ancient Ninja. He saw her floating in the air, messing around with the silver and green piece of technology.

"What the juice is she doing?" he mumbled under his breath. But a gritty _whirr_ caught his ear, and he turned to see the reason why he'd undergone his transformation in the first place. The robot was very familiar, resembling the one he'd defeated with mutant potatoes a couple of months ago.

"Bring it!" he said, drawing out his sword and springing into action. Using his enhanced jumping skills, he leapt forward, finding a foothold in the complex machinery. Unfortunately, the robot was aware of his arrival, and it began to try and shake him off. Surprised, Randy quickly latched onto a fairly large bolt, trying to withstand the rodeo-like conditions. It was considerably hard, since he couldn't use both of his hands.

"A – little… help here!" he shouted, trying to grab Dani Phantom's attention. Thankfully for him, it worked.

She looked up from the Thermos to see the Ninja dangling from one of the robot's many bolts, hanging on for dear life. Completely forgetting about the source of her anger, she tossed it to the ground and flew towards him. She snatched him around the waist, pulling him away from imminent danger.

"Thanks," he panted, beads of stress sweat rolling down his unexposed forehead.

"No problem," she replied shortly. For some reason, it didn't quite come across as rude. Maybe it was the fact that they were both heroes at the moment and they both had a job to take care of. "Where do you want me to drop you off?"

"Mmm…" he muttered, considering the possibilities. Where would its weakest point be? "The head, I guess?"

"In a flash."

She stayed true to her word. Before he knew it, he was dropping gracefully through the air and landing on the cool metal of the robot's head. On the way down, however, his sword nicked her arm due to awkward aim. She hissed a bit in pain, clamping her black-gloved hand on the fresh cut.

"Sorry!" he called out as he planted himself firmly on the metal, determined not to fall.

"You're fine!" she replied, withdrawing her hand to examine the wound. And she hadn't even engaged in battle yet. She grimaced when she saw a fine line of radiant green ectoplasm leaking out of her skin. "So am I!"

But he _saw_.

He saw the green liquid emerging from where her outfit had ripped and his sword had cut her. And if he wasn't mistaken, it looked very familiar… Hadn't he seen it multiple times today? And wasn't one of those times when his partner had hurt herself?

He began to question the strange happenings, but the robot suddenly lurched, and his traction-less boots allowed him to slide forward. He had to focus on his balance rather than science. He took his sword and stabbed it into its head, using the weapon as a crutch of sorts. Sparks flew from the penetration, and he had to duck to dodge them.

The sparks actually surprised Dani. So that's why the Fenton Thermos hadn't worked on it: it wasn't even a ghost! _How could I have been so stupid?_ she scolded herself. _Every creature you come across doesn't have to be a ghost_.

Straightening for a few seconds, she then soared towards the robot's enormous fists, where many of its weapons were stored. Her strategy was that if she could get rid of its advantages, it would be much easier to take down. That and it wouldn't cause as much damage.

She stuck her own fists out, letting them crackle with green ectoplasmic energy. When it charged up, she released it, sending it flying towards one of the gun barrels strapped to his arm. The simultaneous blasts cut it off cleanly, sending it crashing to the ground. She exclaimed in triumph.

Randy was experiencing success of his own. He had his own theory, and he was executing it flawlessly. He was assuming that this was one of Viceroy's creations, and knowing his arch-enemy, there had to be a central chip or something along those lines somewhere inside. Using his sword, he hacked away at the thick metal, trying to find this supposed central chip. With his careless chopping, he was cutting through wires, causing some of the weapons to go offline or just stop working altogether.

One of the consequences of his experiment was the unpredictability of its movements and weapons. And this totally backfired… on Dani.

She was zig-zagging back and forth, sending multiple ectoplasmic rays and the occasional punch or kick the robot's way. The constant movement and energy exertion was beginning to wear thin, and she had to stop for a second to recuperate. However, the Ninja chose that moment to slice apart the wire that controlled left arm movement. It spazzed, flailing out towards her. She got sent into the sky, and in the process, two electrified prongs snagged her. She screamed in pain, and she began to lose concentration.

_Stay… awake… _she told herself as black spots danced in her vision. Unfortunately, memories came flooding her way, mostly of the initial portal accident that gave her ghostly abilities, and she panicked. She couldn't concentrate on keeping herself in her ghostly form, thanks to exhaustion, so she simply let herself change back to Dani Fenton, crossing her fingers that nobody saw the rings pass over her body. Instantly, she felt a bit better, and her vision regained focus.

But then she remembered where she was.

Freefalling. Through empty air. Fifty feet above the ground.

She couldn't help it. She was so frazzled and stressed, and on top of that, she was now terrified as time virtually slowed down as she fell. She let out a cry of horror, screaming the entire way.

Randy paused in his slashing when he heard the loud shriek. He swore he knew that voice from somewhere…

He looked up to see a flurry of black and blue, the source of the exclamation. Was that Dani falling through the air?

No matter who it was, he had to save the poor victim. He somersaulted down the head, then righted himself and slid down the rest of the body, using his katana to dig into the metal and keep his balance. Sparks were left in his wake, creating a picture-perfect hero image.

When he reached the robot's hand, he launched off, flipping through the air expertly. He abandoned his sword, letting it clatter on the linoleum tile. Gracefully, he landed on the floor and sprinted to where he figured she was falling to.

The girl in question clenched her eyes shut. This was _not_ how things were supposed to end. If anything, she wanted to die a heroic death, knowing she'd done something good in the process. Just as she thought she was about to slam into the hard ground…

"_Oof!_"

She'd landed on something… soft. Not hard. Well, except for her left arm. A searing pain was shooting up through it. And was it just her, or could she not move it?

A groan came out from under her, and she rolled off of her cushion, favoring her burning arm. It was a tangle of black and red…

The Ninja?

"Ooohh, that is _not_ gonna feel good tomorrow," he muttered, rubbing his head fervently. It was at that point that he seemed to remember the girl who'd used him as a life saver. He gazed at her with his navy eyes. "You okay?" he asked quietly, moving towards her.

Dani was discombobulated. She'd been so sure that she was going to die, and then the guy who's secret she was trying to find out saved her life… The emotional overload and the blinding pain from her arm were scrambling her brain. All she could say was, "You're like me…"

She gave a somewhat insane smile, then succumbed to the welcoming darkness as red and black lights flashed around her and a pair of arms scooped her up.

_He's like me…_

**Hm. Did not plan that ending…**

**Anywho, I am sosososososo sorry for the very late update. It's been… three months? Given I was kind of on hiatus, but still… That's no excuse, girlie!**

**This is quickly becoming one of my most popular stories, and I want you guys to help me get there! My record of highest reviews so far is 69 for one story… can you guys beat that? I know you can!  
Updates should be much faster, seeing as today was the last day of school (I'm a freshman!), so please stay tuned!**

**-CatchingWind**


	11. Where Things Go From Bad to Worse

**So so so sorry! My computer crashed and erased EVERYTHING I had for this chapter (which was coming along nicely, so you know), and then I lost whatever ideas I had for this chapter, and so I didn't write it. So I sat myself down and said, "Stoppy, you are writing this chapter!" So I did.**

**And where did all of these other freaking crossovers come from? I feel like some old geezer who sees all these kids with iPhones… O_o**

**Disclaimer: I don't own DP or RC:9GN**

_Exchangeability_

Needless to say, Randy was pretty PO'd.

He watched the sleeping form of his partner at Amity's local hospital, his head in his hands and his face in a frown. The chair he was sitting in was one of those plastic ones that seem to be uncomfortable no matter how you shifted around in it. The room smelled too strongly of antiseptic, and he knew that most of his nose cells were probably dead from the scent. Not only that, but whoever decorated the hospital seemed to insist that room H401 be bathed in a blinding white. And because of his bruises from catching Dani at the mall (he only wished he'd escaped unharmed), he was sore all over.

So in addition to his anger, he was not relaxed at all.

At least his rescue attempt had worked… in a way. The girl's injuries included a broken left arm and a mild concussion, but no severe, lasting injuries. On the downside, she would be in a cast for the next few weeks. It was just a matter of time for when she would wake up after passing out.

And so he was left to deafening silence and his puzzling thoughts. One of them being the dark-haired teenager in front of him. Where had she come from? It was as if she'd appeared out of thin air, whereas the ghost fighter had _dis_appeared. Those two girls were going to be the death of him.

Then there was the issue of the robot. He'd never seen anything like it before, save for maybe the machine that had appeared at the science fair awhile back. He had a nagging feeling that it was a McFist robot, which sent his gut sinking. If that robot had been a McFist (well, Viceroy, maybe) design, it probably meant that they were in town. And if they were in town, it meant that they might be onto him, or they were at least narrowing the field down.

He buried his face in his hands. If only someone would just explain everything to him…

He jumped practically three feet in the air when the room's phone rang out shrilly. He whipped his head around for a second, trying to locate it, but he didn't make a move to answer it. Shouldn't a doctor do that or something?

But no man in a white coat came jogging through the door. And the stupid phone kept ringing. So he stood up and lumbered over to the phone, answering it cautiously. He didn't want to get in trouble.

"Hello?"

"_Hey! Isn't this… uh, Dani's partner?_"

Randy was a bit taken aback by the voice on the other line. It was much younger than he expected, and he swore he'd heard it before. He decided it was safe to continue the conversation. "Yeah, this is Randy. Aren't you one of her friends?"

"_Yeah! I'm Tucker, remember? Hey, Dani's there with you, right? Apparently, we're not allowed up there without an adult since we're not relatives of hers…_"

The Norrisvillian heard a quiet mumble of something along the lines of that they should be her relatives, but he was too busy blushing. He'd gotten the same rule thrown at him, but he'd lied to the doctor who treated her and claimed that he was her brother. There really wasn't a way to check if it was true, so he was allowed to stay in the room with her. He felt guilty, now, because he knew those two boys really cared for her and they deserved to be up here more than anything, not him.

"Um, she's up here, but she's still unconscious. Did you want to talk to her?"

"_Darn. That's okay, we just wanted to know if she was alright. She's not in a coma or anything, is she?_"

"No, no! Nothing like that! She's got a broken arm and a concussion, but nothing too serious. I'm just waiting for her to wake up."

He could've sworn he heard Tucker whisper that she'd taken worse hits, but he shrugged it off. "_Alright, well, when she wakes up, tell her Noah and I called, okay? And tell her to call us back!_"

He agreed, but not before hearing the familiar, loud voice of Bash yell, "_What are you losers still doin' over there?_"

As he listened to Noah's quieter voice scold Bash and lecture him, Tucker began talking again. "_Listen, Randy, I've gotta go. Bucky and Bash are getting a bit antsy, and the secretary's giving us nasty looks. Make sure you give Dani my message, okay?_"

"Don't worry, I will," he said, subsequently hanging the phone back up on its cradle.

He collapsed back into the same seat as before, then immediately regretted it after landing on one of his bigger bruises. His face withered in pain, but he shook it off. He'd been tossed around like a rag doll by a demon-bird, beaten up by his best friend, and almost eaten to death by mutant potatoes. He could withstand a few bumps.

And then… it was almost inaudible, but he heard a quiet moan escape Dani's open lips. He scrambled to get onto his feet and run to her bedside.

"Dani?" he whispered, wondering if she was actually awake. Her eyes weren't open, and it didn't look like she'd moved any, but he swore he'd heard something come out of her mouth.

When she didn't say anything more or make anymore noises, he slouched again, eyes drooping lower. He'd gotten so excited for nothing.

Except something else happened right then.

He heard the door click open quietly, and a sharply dressed man sauntered into the room. He wore a spotless black business suit, a crisp white dress shirt, and a crimson red tie to finish off the look. His eyes were a startling, dark blue, much like the boy's own eyes, and he had long, silvery hair tied back neatly into a ponytail, not a strand out of place.

"Hello, young man," the newcomer said silkily, a Cheshire grin spreading across his face. "I'm Danielle's uncle. I'm here to take her home."

Vlad had to admit, he'd been a bit disgruntled when Skulker failed to do his job properly, considering the hefty offer they'd negotiated, and he'd been even more upset when the robot Willem had designed also didn't succeed. The little Ninja brat had promptly shredded the hunk of metal into pieces after removing the unconscious Danielle from the scene. The hero from Norrisville had disappeared quickly after the fact, leaving a young boy to run to her side and call for an ambulance.

Yes, the mayor had been frustrated for a short amount of time, but while McFist and Viceroy were arguing about whose fault the failure was, a light bulb went off in his head. His plan wasn't completely foiled at this point; in fact, it could be completed much faster now that a stroke of luck had come his way.

If the robots that the two men were creating weren't doing their job properly, he could still capture his teenage rival on his own, since she was in the hospital. Those idiots never checked if claims were true, so he could waltz right on in and snatch her right under their noses.

The boy that had been standing in her room didn't deter him, either. The kid knew nothing about the town, let alone who the mayor was, so it was easy to slither past him. Sure, he hadn't been too keen on letting her out of his sight, but after he assured the boy that he was her uncle and he would take excellent care of her, the kid had relented and let him go.

A quick limousine ride later, and he was at his mansion on the outskirts of the city, the still-unconscious girl in tow. Making sure his incompetent co-conspirators were nowhere in sight, he sneaked off to his underground lab, now located in a precise place that could only be accessed in two ways, one of which involved the control panel of Japan's fastest train.

He strapped her to a pre-prepared examination table, transforming into his ghostly half in the process. He hated to admit it, but he needed to take as many precautions as possible. He'd studied her DNA and ectoplasm enough to know that her power was growing steadily, and it was quickly becoming par to his. How, he didn't know, but that wasn't the point.

As he toyed with a computer screen in the corner of the room, she began to groan and her blue eyes fluttered open. She strained to sit up, but found she couldn't, not only because her left arm was encased in plaster, but she was currently restrained – _tightly_.

Vlad was quick to notice, and in one stride, he was by the cold stainless steel table in a second. His blood red eyes only reflected malice, and he showed her his fanged, toothy, evil grin. It was in that instant that she knew something was definitely wrong.

"Hello, Danielle."

Randy had his hands stuffed in his pockets as he sulked past the front reception desk in the main lobby. After Dani's uncle had appeared out of nowhere and swept her away, he had no clue where to go or what to do. He was a bit surprised that the man hadn't offered to take him along, but obviously, he had his reasons.

Maybe he should try to track down her parents. They'd be able to help him out, and they didn't know about what'd happened to their daughter yet, and –

"Randy?"

He looked up to see her two friends jogging towards him, worried looks on their faces. "Where's Dani?" Noah asked, his head making a sweep of the room. "Is everything okay? Did something happen?"

"Yeah, everything's okay," Randy said. "Her uncle just came and picked her up, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to do now. Why?"

He noticed the look that the two exchanged, and it sent chills down his spine. "What's wrong?" he asked with a little more urgency.

"You said her uncle picked her up?" Tucker asked hurriedly. "What did he look like?"

He proceeded to describe the weird man to the boys, and with each detail he relayed, their faces fell further. When he was done, they exchanged another look, then proceeded to proclaim dejectedly…

"Crap."

**Oh ho ho, CW puts a twist in this story, eh? ;)**

**Yeah, I don't think this is how I had it going when I first wrote it, but I like it.**

**But with this little twist, this story might be done a little sooner than expected. I'm not sure. But I do have a few plans… *evil authoress cackle***

**Leave a review with your thoughts! This is by far my longest and most popular story, so let's keep it that way!**

**-CatchingWind**

**P.S. If you guys get to 100 reviews by the end of this story, I'll consider making a sequel…!**


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